posted by Sean on Featured, Pipes, Reviews

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It started in 1865, brothers Friedrich and Heinrich Kapp of Nurnberg opened a tobacco shop in the legendary Dublin Ireland.  It was here on the the quant Grafton Street that the birth of the Legendary Peterson Pipes would be born.

Orgionally the two brothers named their humble shop in Dublin ‘Kapp Brothers’, they soon garnered a name for themselves crafting and selling fine Meerschaum and Briar pipes.  Soon after they Kapp Brothers opened for business they were visited by a man that would change that small business forever.  His name was Charles Peterson, a Latvian immigrant, and he walked into Kapp Brothers Grafton Street premises armed with a new pipe design and ambitious plans for the future.

It was here that Peterson asked the Kapp brothers to partner with him in to see this wonderful design be make into a reality for the rest of the world.  They agreed and the company was renamed Kapp & Peterson. Peterson Pipes soon went on to become Dublin’s most fashionable and respected manufacturer of smoking pipes, pipe tobacco, and tobacco accessories.  Peterson pipes gained a reputation for affordability and quality, a brand and quality that would still define them today.

The most famous design from the Kapp and Peterson factory was Peterson’s famed ‘Dry System’ pipes, patented in 1894. THis pipe was famed for being a dry smoke all the way to the end. The system pipe featured a small reservoir intended to collect moisture before it reaches the smoker. Indeed, it is on this groundbreaking design that the worldwide reputation of Peterson grew.

Peterson is now one of the last of the true classic factory pipe makers still in private ownership. They have been making pipes since before the turn of the century; and while they have made a major push into the mass market, can still turn out first quality pipes from excellent briar.

Tags: Peterson, peterson of dublin, peterson pipes