Trip to the Peterson Factory

I was lucky enough to get an invitation to visit the Peterson Pipe factory in Dublin. It was such an amazing experience, and we had such lovely hosts! I just had to write down what happened, and the hard work that went into creating a single pipe. We all know their pipes are hand crafted, but I don't think we realised that every single bit of the pipe is hand crafted. From the carving of the piece of Briar wood, to the stamping of the pipe number/code. I hope this article will put across just how amazing it was. Of course, nothing will come close to being there and seeing the hard work undertaken by its dedicated employees and experiencing it all for yourself! On the day of the tour, I did not really know what to expect or what I was going to experience. I thought we would go to a huge factory with a lot of workers being given machine-made items from a conveyor belt but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a small factory with roughly twenty workers, all peering over their work diligently and taking special care to ensure that every single detail of their pipes were beautiful and very detailed. It was a lovely environment, everyone cared so much about the piece of pipes they worked on - they even have people who come back to work for a couple of days a week after they have retired just to help around the warehouse and take part. That is how nice it was there!

We were guided around the factory by the very knowledgeable Jonathon. He knew the workings of every section of the factory and it was a delight to have been shown around by him. He started by giving us a quick introduction and an idea of what we were going to experience before showing us around the factory. 

The first thing we were shown was the piece of briar which all of their pipes are made from. It was not the prettiest piece of wood I have seen, so it is remarkable to see how this piece of wood that is naturally grown can turn into a beautiful pipe. The wood is then cut down to a smaller piece and the initial bowl shape is carved and created. The bowl is then graded to see which pipe this can go onto become. Once this is done, the worker then marks out the imperfections that need that little bit of extra care. 

We then moved onto the next station, this was where the bowl was drilled into to give the hole for the stem to fit into. Jonathon explained to us that there were different size drill bits depending on what kind of pipe this was to become. Every pipe has their own job tray and card so the worker knows which one they are working on. Then, this was sanded down to give it the smooth touch. The stem is then fitted into the pipe and goes on for a further sanding to ensure the join between bowl and stem is snug and smooth. When I ran my hand over the surface, I couldn't feel where the join was, that is how smooth and snug it was! The ugly piece of wood that we started with now resembled a classic pipe. After that, the pipe ctoninues on its journey to be buffed ready for the stain to be applied.

Jonathon explained how the colour was mixed in two parts of stain and white spirits. Then they applied a coat of the stain to the bowl and immediately placed it over a burner to burn off the white spirit and help set the stain. This was then repeated a further couple of times. We also got to see the range of stains they have, they even have unused purple and pink one! Unfortunately, there is not much call for a purple or pink pipe! Once the stain has dried, they then have to go onto shape the stem. They all start off straight, so they pop the stem into a little gas oven to make the acrylic more malleable. When this has been removed from the little "oven", they hand-bend each stem to the desired shape and dunk it into cold water to set the stem. Once it has been dunked, it is completely solid once more. If they are not happy with the way the stem has set, they can always reheat it and start again at their leisure!

The pipe is then passed onto the polishing section where the pipe is then polished to the shiny high quality we have all come to expect with a Peterson pipe. The polishing bench has a few different polish wheels, depending on what colour the pipe is. Already, in such a few short steps, the wood now resembles a beautiful pipe that we can all recognise. However, there are still more stages until the finished process! 

After the polishing has been completed we then moved onto the silversmith. He explained how he starts off with a piece of silver or nickel, depending on what pipe he is working on, and how he turns the silver and carves off the excess and creates the beautiful silver band on the pipe you are smoking. He made it look so easy, but that may have been down to the six years of apprenticeship work he had to complete first before he even started on the bands! He has a lot of experience. I daresay if I had attempted this, I would have lost a finger or two! Once the band is completed, it was then passed over to the engraving section where they engrave the band with whatever the pipe needed. For example, the St Patrick day pipes have a wonderful little clover on, and the new Christmas pipes have a sweet little bow! They explained how they can engrave absolutely anything onto the silver band so I was really tempted to put my own influence into the mix just to mix it up for them a little!

Once the band has been engraved, we then moved onto stamping the stem with the famous "P" that is on Peterson Pipes. This enures that every customer and salesperson can quickly identify a Peterson pipe. Jonathon showed us the silver and gold foil they used to create the P. This was fed through a machine; the stem was placed onto the bottom and then the P was stamped into the stem. Of course, this all sounds extremely easy, but it was not. It would take a lot of years and practice to get this right which is why every person working within the factory are expert at what they do.

We then moved to the inside of the bowl. Jonathon explained how they paint the inside of the bowl with a charcoal based paint to protect the bowl against the high temperatures from smoking. 

We then moved onto the final stage of the pipe, which was stamping the bottom of the pipe with the name, pipe number, and the Peterson sign. This too was stamped on by hand. Jonathon explained how they have so many different stamps for each pipe. So, for example, there is a stamp for "Sherlock Holmes" and then a stamp for every Sherlock Holmes pipe, the Watson, Deerstalker, Squire etc etc. The pipes were then packed up into their boxes and stored on the shelves under the customer's name. They are then given a final check to ensure the quality is perfect and the correct pipe will be going to the customer.

It was a truly wonderful experience. Seeing how a pipe was created from beginning to end was a lovely journey for both me and the pipe! It really does open your eyes and mind to the craftmanship, thought, and detail that goes into the pipes. So next time you light your pipe, take a few minutes to truly look at the pipe, explore it, look at the detail, the engraving, the stamp on the bottom, take in the handmade product. It makes such a change to have something handmade, we really should treasure and savour them all.