HS Studio Sandblasted “Bo Nordh Pot” w/ Horn 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.

I’ve noted before that many HS Studio pipes show clear influences from the greats of post-war pipe making history, and that, often, this takes the form of a clear homage to one particular maker. This one should be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with one of the two Swedish founders of “Danish” pipe making: Bo Nordh. Its peculiar design is based on a favorite shape of Bo Nordh, a cauldron-like hanger commonly referred to as “Bo’s pot.” It is a shape that Nordh not only designed, but regularly smoked, as can be seen in photographs of the man. Like Nordh’s Nautilus, Elephant’s Foot, and Ramses, it is a shape that has become a staple among the artisan community. One can find, for example, variations on the Bo Pot as far and wide as Nordh’s fellow Swedes Love Geiger and Sara Mossberg, Greece’s Chris Asteriou, Taiwan’s Yuwei Huang, and, of course, mainland China’s HS Studio. This one bears all the hallmark’s of Nordh’s shaping, and is dressed in a reserved, black sandblast, with a horn (or imitation horn) ferrule and black ebonite stem. Just like Nordh’s own pipe, it is distinctly ergonomic, especially given its featherweight stature.

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

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.29″ / 32.76mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g