HS Studio Large Sandblasted Asymmetric Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

If you’ve been keeping up with the world of Chinese pipe making, their artisan scene has been really taking off over the last decade. Like the great Danish institutions of old, many of these pipes are produced in artisan workshops such as Zhiputang, Qi Studio, and GH Zhang. Hong Kong’s HS Studio follows a similar model, with a team of expert in-house carvers crafting high-quality briars in a variety of styles.

Bearing interesting similarities to another HS Studio pipe listed recently, this one is another highly organic, asymmetric freehand, with an almost insect-like quality to its proportions (especially by way of its bulbous “abdominal” region). And, as mentioned with the aforementioned listing, there are certain precedents palpable here as well, such as in the work of Lasse Skovgaard, Wolfgang Becker, and perhaps Japanese carvers such as Gotoh and Tokutomi. It is, however, unique and, what’s more, impressively well executed in its marriage of form and finish. Deep, ring grain surrounds the lower portion of its bowl, while its “mushrooming” cap-like rim erupts both in bird’s-eye relief and portions of bare plateaux burl.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ / 42.67mm

Weight: 3.3oz / 96g