Bennie Joe Pipes

Bennie Joe pipes are made by Bennie Joe, an Indonesian artisan based in Jakarta. A trained architect, he made pipes in his spare time, and when the property market took a downturn during the dark days of 2020, he took up pipe making full time. We have been fans of his work for a long time, and he has become a close friend of MBSD along the way.

What sets him apart is how his pipes are made. The chambers and draft holes are drilled, but the body of each pipe is formed with hand tools rather than the woodworking machines most pipe makers rely on. The results are genuinely freehand tobacco pipes reminiscent of those made in mid-century Denmark, so it should come as no surprise that one of his heroes is the late, great Bo Nordh. We have listed his takes on Nordh’s ballerina and horn shapes, along with blowfish, Rhodesians, nosewarmers, cavaliers, a strawberry, a mushroom and a wasp built on the designs of German artisan Wolfgang Becker.

Indonesian bamboo, horn ferrules and hand-cut ebonite stems often finish the design, and most of his smoking pipes are compact and light, many of them easy to clench. When Bennie Joe pipes come to us, we list them here.

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Bennie Joe Tobacco Pipe FAQ

Bennie Joe pipes are made by Prasetya Tri Wibowo, an Indonesian artisan based in Jakarta who works under the name Bennie Joe. A trained architect, he made pipes in his spare time while working in the property business, and he took up pipe making full time in 2020, after the property developer he worked for went under during the pandemic. Through a group of local pipe makers he met Abdul Karim of Karim Pipes, who taught him more advanced tools and techniques.

Bennie Joe pipes are made primarily with hand tools, rather than the woodworking machines most pipe makers use. The chambers and draft holes are drilled, but the body of each pipe is shaped by hand. That approach gives his pipes genuinely freehand forms reminiscent of the pipes made in mid-century Denmark, often following the natural grain of the briar, with touches of plateau left on the rim or shank.

One of his heroes is the late Bo Nordh, and we have listed his interpretations of Nordh's ballerina and horn shapes and a squat Rhodesian that leans toward the Bodog, the shape named after Nordh. He also admires Tom Eltang, Hiroyuki Tokutomi and Michail Revyagin, along with his teacher Abdul Karim. Other pipes we have listed show echoes of Sixten Ivarsson, Lars Ivarsson, Todd Johnson, Sven Knudsen, Åge Bøgelund and German artisan Wolfgang Becker, whose wasp shape he reworked with a thick Buddha belly bamboo shank.

He likes rounded shapes such as the apple, egg and tomato for how comfortably they sit in the hand. We have also listed his ballerinas, horns, blowfish, Rhodesians, nosewarmers, including a stack and a squat tomato, cavaliers, a strawberry, a mushroom, an acorn, a cherrywood poker, a Lovat, Devil Anse shapes, a tulip, a wasp and plateau freehands. He has also made two-piece all-briar pipes, an old style that goes back to the late 19th century, one of them with a matching tamper he made by hand.

Bennie Joe pipes are briar, often accented with thick Indonesian bamboo or a horn ferrule, and most have ebonite stems, many of them hand cut. Some earlier pipes we listed have cumberland stems. The Bennie Joe pipes we have listed run from 4.3 to 6.5 inches long, and most weigh under 2 ounces, which makes many of them comfortable to clench or carry in a pocket. None of them takes a filter.

MBSD lists Bennie Joe pipes as they come to us, and every one we have listed so far has been new and unsmoked. Each one is listed with photos and measurements. New pipes go up on the site nightly at 9 PM Eastern, and availability changes, so check this page regularly. To see the week's highlights every Monday, sign up for our newsletter.

Yes, we buy Bennie Joe pipes, from a single pipe to a whole collection. Cash offers are 50% of the current retail price, or 60% in store credit. To sell, fill out the quote form on our We Buy Smoking Pipes page. To trade toward your next pipe, use the form on our pipe trade-in page. For U.S. sellers, we can send a prepaid shipping label and deduct its cost from your quote, and we buy from sellers outside the U.S. too. Our guide on how to pack and ship a pipe collection shows how to box them safely. You will hear back with an itemized quote within 3 to 5 business days after your pipes arrive. Once you accept, payment goes out right away by check, PayPal or Zelle.

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