Chris Asteriou 2018 Sandblasted Peewit w/ Bamboo Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Originally coming from a background in architecture and industrial design, Greece’s Chris Asteriou’s talents as an artisan pipe maker are perhaps only exceeded by the impact he has made on other pipe makers in the time since he took up the craft. Beginning in 2007, Asteriou’s career as a pipe maker was solely guided—at least on a formal level—by his prior vocations. Yet despite being an autodidact from a country more known for its briar than its briar carvers, Asteriou quickly cemented himself as one of the 21st century’s premier artisans. This is something patently clear from his pipes, but it is also something that has been felt through the mentorship and guidance he has provided to the generations of pipe makers that have followed his own. This includes figures such as fellow Greek carver Michail Kyriazanos, Brazil’s Gustavo Cunha (marTelo) and Luiz Lavos, and America’s J. Mouton. One could further list the pipe makers who have been influenced by Asteriou’s works but, given constraints on space and time, it would be far better to simply state that they are many.

While this is only the second Chris Asteriou pipe we’ve had come through our estates program, and while the other one is a magnificent pipe, this one is my favorite. And that’s largely because it is a rendition of my favorite shape ever: the Peewit. First conceived by Sixten Ivarsson shortly after the Second World War, the Peewit was, essentially, an Anglo-French acorn shape that had been re-interpreted by Ivarsson in a slightly more egg-like (hence the avian reference—”Peewit” being another name for a northern lapwing) but also more slender and graceful manner (likely at least partly as a way to reduce briar usage in a time of scarcity). In the 70+ years since, the Peewit itself has been subject to countless re-interpretations, and you’d be hard pressed to find any great artisan who hasn’t made at least one during their career. Asteriou has produced several, with one hallmark of his approach being a much more vertical design, with long stretches of bamboo separating the bowl from the stem, as well as very subtle incorporations of briar plateau at the pipe’s rim. This one is relatively reserved as far as finishing goes, is not without the inclusion of a masterful, ring grain sandblast.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original leather sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.37″ / 34.79mm

Weight: 1.0oz / 30g