Ben Wade (Preben Holm) Danish Pride Extra Large Partially Sandblasted Freehand (Unsmoked Estate)

Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, Preben Holm was one of the pioneering figures in the “Danish design” movement in 20th century pipe-making – a movement that still dominates the high-grade pipe scene. By hand-shaping his pipes on a belt sander, Holm was able to make the most of the patterns of grain hidden within briar, creating spectacular works of pipe art that looked just as good as they smoked. Even Herman Lane, owner of Lane Ltd. and Charatan during the 1960s and 1970s, was so impressed by Holm that he contracted the Danish artisan to carve pipes under his newly-acquired Ben Wade make, despite simultaneously stewarding the meteoric rise of English-made freehand pipes through Charatan). Today, Holm’s pipes remain highly sought-after, perhaps even more so than when he was still alive, to the extent that even the historic—and, originally, very English—Ben Wade name is difficult to separate from Holm’s work.

While Preben Holm is well known for his technique of “chasing the grain” when it came to shaping, this technique was by no means limited to vertical grain patterns. There were plenty of straight grain and flame grain pipes put out by his workshop; and there were ring grain pipes, too, brought into relief by a thorough sandblast. And there were also quite a few mixed finish pipes, through which one could enjoy the best of both worlds in a single pipe. With this exceedingly large freehand, for example, one finds layers upon layers of crisp grain in relief, woven between dense vertical fibers, all culminating in a rim exploding with both live plateau burl and bird’s-eye chatoyancy.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original (slightly time-worn) box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 7.3″ / 185.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 1.99″ / 50.54mm

Weight: 3.1oz / 90g