When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Most churchwardens are built to gain distance: a long, sometimes curved stem that draws smoke through inches of air before it reaches the mouth. This one takes the opposite approach. Stamped BIG BEN MADE IN HOLLAND on the shank, it holds churchwarden proportions in miniature - 185mm overall, short enough to sit in a coat pocket rather than a rack.
Bowl: briar
Stem: vulcanite
Mouthpiece: fishtail
Filter: none
Stamped: \"Big Ben Made in Holland\"
The churchwarden\'s long stem is not a modern affectation. The pattern descends from the long clay pipes English churchgoers once smoked while waiting out services in the churchyard, long enough that the bowl stayed cool in the hand and the stem stayed cool in the mouth. When briar replaced clay as the material of choice, churchwardens kept the long stem as a matter of shape tradition, even though briar does not need the extra length to survive a light the way clay did. A mini churchwarden like this one keeps the family\'s straight shank and extended reach without running to the nine or ten inches some versions carry. At 185mm it still reads as a churchwarden by length, just a compact one, built to be carried rather than displayed.
The bowl is smooth-finished and stained green. A smooth finish means the briar surface is polished rather than textured by sandblasting or rustication, so whatever grain the block carries shows through the stain instead of being buried under it. A green stain is a colored finish rather than briar\'s natural tone after curing - it changes what the light returns off the surface while leaving the wood\'s structure visible underneath. Bowl height and width both run 28mm, with a chamber of 20mm diameter and 23mm depth - a modest chamber even by churchwarden standards, sized for a shorter smoke rather than an evening-length one. Weight comes in at 22 grams, light in the hand, which matters more on a pipe this shape: with the bowl set at the end of an extended stem, more of the pipe\'s balance rests on the lips than on a standard billiard or bulldog.
The stem is vulcanite, tapered rather than saddle-cut, ending in a fishtail bit - the slot opens into two tines at the tip instead of a single round bore. A fishtail spreads the airflow slightly wider right where the lips meet the stem, which is useful on a tapered profile: the taper narrows the vulcanite toward the bit, and the fishtail keeps the airway from feeling pinched at that narrow point. No filter is fitted; the draw runs straight through vulcanite into briar.
MADE IN HOLLAND marks country of manufacture. It states origin and nothing more - no factory, no era, no grade beyond the words themselves.
THE MARKS
- Shank stamped BIG BEN MADE IN HOLLAND
Condition: The seller reports this pipe pre-smoked and in excellent condition. No cracks, chips, dents, or repairs are stated. Finish and grain: see the photographs.
THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 185mm - bowl height 28mm - bowl width 28mm - chamber diameter 20mm - chamber depth 23mm - weight 22g
A mini churchwarden is not a common size on the secondary market. Most surface at standard or long length, bought for the rack as much as the mouth. This one is sized to be smoked.
Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.
SKU: 444
