Read time: 7 min.

My dad loved Kapp & Peterson pipes. For most of his life, he believed they were the best his money could buy! I knew I needed a brand new Peterson when I got back into the hobby a couple years ago, so I got a Rhodesian 999 from the company’s entry-level series. It left much to be desired, but I gave the marquee another chance last fall with a Zulu 268. I struck gold, and it was thanks to a cat.

I was a freshman in college when Dad passed his pipe-smoking hobby on to me. It was exciting to receive to receive a box of his old pipes that included several valuable specimens, but I was thrilled when he gave me my first brand-new pipe for Christmas, a Peterson Irish Whiskey sandblasted billiard in the 107 shape. I still cherish it and all things told, the company makes fantastic pipes that have the potential to become lifelong friends.

Part of that is because Peterson is the world’s oldest continuously-operating pipe manufacturer. The company dates to 1875, when a Latvian artisan named Charles Peterson got a job at Frederick Kapp’s pipe store in Dublin. Peterson turned out to be an unparalleled craftsman: over the years, he was awarded a slew of patents that established him as a true innovator in the field.

I learned of Peterson’s provenance during my earliest pipe-smoking sessions with Dad as we puffed through bowls of his tobacco of choice, a budget “Smoker’s Pride” type Vanilla Cavendish. Unfortunately, our shared appreciation of the brand wasn’t long-lived. After Dad died, it took me more than a decade to return to the hobby.

One of the first pipes I bought was the Peterson Donegal Rocky Rhodesian in the company’s iconic 999 shape. It appealed to me for two reasons: tradition and price. Inspired by the mountains of Ireland’s County Donegal, the series dates to 1945. Pipes under the Donegal Rocky name are carved by machine before they’re rusticated and colored with a red-and-black contrast stain that hides minor imperfections in the briar. Peterson sells a lot of Donegal Rocky pipes, and I picked my 999 up for $87.50 after a 5% VIP discount through SmokingPipes.

Unfortunately, the first bowls were problematic. It takes far more than a single smoke to break in a pipe, but I sensed something was wrong shortly after I packed its first load of tobacco. The pipe was hot in my hand as I paused from each gurgling draw! Afterwards, I noticed that the mortise -the hole where the stem connects to the wood- was drilled decidedly off-center. I don’t think that directly contributed to the other issues I had, but it indicated a lack of quality control.

The next four or five smokes proved similarly aggravating. None of my other six Petersons ever behaved so badly, but none had been drilled so off-center! I set it aside for months to explore handmade pipes by Danish brands like Neerup and Johs, but that’s when a cat changed my tune.

My brother and I live together. When he moved in, he brought a little black barn cat named Disco with him. She’s one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever met, but she’s clearly John’s. I envied their bond! Determined to find my own little friend, I met little Zulu. She was a six-month-old tabby with an orange dot on her forehead when I found her from a Facebook post.

It’s not an obvious connection at first glance, but bringing Zulu home from the nearby Blackford County Animal Shelter got me thinking about Peterson pipes again. One of my first Petersons from Dad’s old collection was a meerschaum Zulu. That style of pipe, sometimes known as a Woodstock or a yachtsman shape, has been my favorite ever since! There’s something that about the forward cant of its flared bowl and 1/8 bent stem I find immensely compelling.

I also found Zulu the cat immensely compelling. I’d been uncomfortable holding Disco, but I picked her up at the shelter. In an instant, Zulu rolled over in my arms to present herself for tummy rubs! I complied, and she started purring. We’d gone into the shelter to look for a cat I could deal with, but we left with one I already loved.

My brother and I took her home. The plan was to let Zulu live in my room to get acclimated before we introduced her to Disco. I’d spent a ton of money turning the place into her own little paradise! Another hundred or so to commemorate little Zulu’s arrival with a new Peterson Zulu sounded reasonable, so I turned again to SmokingPipes. 

I didn’t set out to get another Donegal Rocky after my 999 was so disappointing. Nevertheless, I gravitated to the series for more reasons than price point and tradition: I love the aesthetics of a rusticated pipe, I don’t care for the upkeep necessary with the silver bands seen in some of Peterson’s pricier offerings, and I can’t stand the company’s spigot mounts since I’ve found that they work loose over time. That left the Donegal Rocky and I figured, if anything, I could compare the two.

I got my new pipe in the mail a few days later, along with a tin of Peterson Irish Whiskey tobacco to smoke in it. The pipe is 5.64 inches long with a bowl height of 1.78 inches. The chamber, which measures 1.49 inches deep by .72 inches wide, holds .61 cubic inches of tobacco, a tiny bit less than my 999. 

Unlike the previous Donegal Rocky I bought, the mortise appeared to have been drilled right down the middle. Happy with that discovery, I went out to my porch and packed the bowl with Irish Whiskey. Soon, it was off to the races.

The chamber walls of my new 126 are about five-eights as thick as those of my 999, but I didn’t notice any significant heat emanating from its bowl. I also didn’t experience any gurgle or excessive noise. Overall, it was a great, short, smoke! I was pleasantly surprised.

My 999 must have been a dud because subsequent smokes have confirmed that the Donegal Rocky Zulu, number 126 on Peterson’s shape chart, is a great entry-level pipe for someone looking to spend about a hundred bucks. It’d even be a good pipe for a veteran smoker to throw in the car or in a backpack. I’ll probably do that myself- I can see it becoming a great little utilitarian workhorse.

In terms of pipes, Zulus aren’t all that common in a world of apples, billiards, Dublins, bulldogs, and pots. They’re also unique in the world of kittens! Zulu the cat is almost a year old now. She’s impulsive and greedy, but by and large she’s grown into a smart, curious, energetic, extremely affectionate little friend.

I couldn’t have asked for a better cat friend. For $82.50, I couldn’t ask for a better pipe to commemorate her arrival with! The 126 partially restored my opinion towards Peterson’s budget offerings, but next time I’m on the hunt for a machine-made smoker, I’ll probably give the brand’s more expensive portfolio a look first!