American Smoking Pipe Company (1986) (Curt Rollar) Large Sandblasted Billiard (Estate)

The American Smoking Pipe Company was founded in 1978 by artisans Mark Tinsky and Curt Rollar. Tinsky and Rollar’s venture was part of a new wave of North American hand made pipe making that emerged in the 1970s and ’80s, including artisan carvers such as Mike Butera, Tim West, Elliot Nachtwalter and Jorg Jemelka. Despite the name, American Smoking Pipe Co. was not a factory or large scale operation, but a simple pipe workshop and name shared between friends.

Given that Curt Rollar departed the American Smoking Pipe Company in 1990, and given that Mark Tinsky (later joined by his son, Glenn Tinsky) has been at the reins of the company ever since, there are fewer ASPC pipes out there that were made by the former as opposed to the latter. This isn’t a bad thing, as Tinsky is a world-class pipe maker, but it does mean that Rollar’s pipes are much rarer to come across and, as such, are quite interesting when they do. Rollar was, after all, excellent at what he did, and was a significant figure in the emergence of American artisan pipes.

This particular pipe is one of Rollar’s billiard renditions, made all the way back in 1986. It’s a large, stacked approach to the form, dressed in a beautifully craggy, English-style natural sandblast finish.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening, chamber slightly over-reamed, and minor handling marks.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.84″ / 46.73mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g