English Estates: Comoy's Extraordinaire Sandblasted (129) (1950s-1960s) Tobacco Pipe

Dated to between the 1950s and 1960s, this "129" Apple from Comoy's renders the iconic shape with a strapping physique, hosting plenty of substance to embrace while smoking. The bowl's rotund figure fits snugly in the hand, formed by plump walls that reach high from the rounded heel and curve toward a chamfered rim. Paired to the bowl out back is a fairly trim shank and a sleek tapered stem of black vulcanite, the arrangement's arrow-straight trajectory making for a streamlined profile. Dressed in a crisp, inky sandblast, the stummel showcases rippling bands of growth rings that flow down the walls of the bowl in arcing undulations.

Comoy's is one of the most legendary brands in all of pipe making, being one of the oldest marques in existence to still be operating today, with the unique distinction of being one of the first firms to use briar for their stummels. Founded in 1825 by Francois Comoy and his brothers in the small town of Saint-Claude, France, the original iteration of the company made clay and boxwood pipes until 1848, when his son Louis discovered the smoking properties of briar. In 1879 Comoy's expanded into London, England, and rapidly grew, influencing London's own pipe industry as Henri Comoy introduced high-quality briar pipes into the popular consciousness of English smokers. The brand continued to expand throughout the early 20th century, hindered only by the strict manufacturing limitations of supply shortages of World War II, remaining within the Comoy family until the brand was bought out by Cadogan Investments in the early 1980s.