Peterson Terracotta Spigot Pipes

The oldest continuously operating pipe factory in the world, Peterson produces some of the most recognizable and iconic pipes on the market. They've been featured in exhibitions, films, and television shows for the past century; many famous writers, artists, and inventors smoked a Peterson pipe, including Mark Twain, whose love for his System pipe is still perhaps unparalleled to this day. Even those uninvolved in our hobby likely think of a Peterson when asked to imagine a pipe. And all because of the functional design of the marque's most important contribution to the history of pipemaking: the System Pipe.

In 1874, Frederick Kapp opened a tobacco and pipe shop in Dublin; within a year a young Latvian woodworker named Charles Peterson was employed there. During his first years with the Kapps, Peterson made and repaired briar and meerschaum pipes, thinking critically about how to improve their design. In 1890, after 15 years of handling and repairing multitudes of pipes, Charles secured a patent in his own name, titled "A certain new and useful improvement in Tobacco-Pipes," introducing a unique system comprised of a higher draft hole and a moisture reservoir bored into the shank and transition of a briar pipe. Over the next eight years, Charles continued to refine his System, applying for and securing patents for a graduated bore mouthpiece (1891), and a unique button design known today as the P-Lip (1894-1898).

Charles Peterson's patented System isn't just a novelty offered by Peterson; it is the Peterson pipe. Its engineering and overall design are intertwined with the marque's foundation and raison d'être. They're the invisible source behind Peterson's unique Irish aesthetic — its muscular shank and transition, tubular profile, and generous bend. Over the last 120 years, Peterson has evolved and adapted to suit modern tastes, maintaining an expansive regular production shape chart, while also ushering in new series like the celebrated Sherlock Holmes line, as well as special edition releases like the annual St. Patrick's Day and Christmas pipes. Yet Charles Peterson's intention and original design language is preserved in each piece to leave the factory.