The Canadian Family

The Canadian family is a four-member shape group bringing together the long-shanked derivatives of the classic Billiard: Canadian, Lumberman, Liverpool, and Lovat. In all four, the bowl keeps Billiard proportions; what truly defines the family is a shank kept considerably longer than usual, paired with a short stem.

The long shank places more absorbent briar between the burning tobacco and the smoker's lips, letting the smoke cool and shed moisture along the way; the family is known for this cool, dry smoke.

The Matrix That Separates the Four Members

The family's members are distinguished by the answers to two simple questions: Is the shank's cross-section oval or round? Is the stem tapered or saddle? These two questions, each with two possible answers, form a 2x2 matrix that yields the family's four members:

By this logic, Liverpool is considered the member closest in silhouette to the Canadian, while Lovat sits at the opposite corner of the matrix from the Canadian. All four members are held to share the same smoking character; the difference among them lies in the shape of the shank and stem rather than in the smoke itself. These definitions reflect a broad consensus in the community, but not every maker follows the matrix to the letter, and the boundaries can blur in some catalogues. The definitions are therefore best read as common convention rather than a strict standard. All four variants have appeared over the years in the catalogues of established makers such as Peterson and Comoy's of London.