Peterson: Dracula Smooth (701) Fishtail Tobacco Pipe

In Peterson's 1945 catalog, the Irish marque introduced four Speciality shapes: the Barrel, Tankard, Calabash, and Belgique. The line trades Peterson's conventional shaping cues for a slender, petite disposition, a stark contrast to the robust, muscular aesthetic that dominates the Irish firm's portfolio. These are the smallest, most lightweight designs Peterson has to offer, and they've been popular favorites over the past 70+ years, with many pipe smokers devoting them to flake tobaccos. Originally, the Tankard, presented here, forwent a usual, numbered shape designation, but in 2021, the svelte and streamlined take on the sure-sitting Poker became known as the "701" on Peterson's shape chart.

One of the Irish marque's most striking and colorful series within their standard fare, Peterson's Dracula line draws inspiration from Bram Stoker's classic novel to offer a color palette worthy of the Count himself. Here, a glossy, ebony stain adorns the bowl coinciding with the inky swirls overtop the blood-red acrylic stem. A regal band of bright nickel separates stem from stummel and juxtaposes an elegant appeal against the rest of the piece's spooky aesthetic — similar to Dracula's own aristocratic, yet horrific nature. Like Peterson's Sherlock Holmes series, the Dracula line is a worthy homage to historic literature from one of the pipe industry's most historic marques.