Ben Wade (Preben Holm) Deluxe XL Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

While Ben Wade was a historic British pipe brand, for a time during the 1970s, production of Ben Wade pipes was contracted out to one of Danish pipe-making’s superstars: Preben Holm. Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, 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. Owing to Holm’s untimely passing, his pipes are even more highly sought after than they were during his lifetime.

There’s a reason that, despite his relatively short career, and despite over forty years since his sudden passing, people still talk about Preben Holm’s pipes. He was an absolute master at “chasing the grain,” while also producing distinctive pipes of which each was different to the last. This one is a very large, very beautiful, and very Preben Holm pipe, with plateaux at either end of its stummel, a light finish draped over tightly-knit straight grain, and an ornate, hand-cut ebonite stem.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. There is some residual oxidation on the stem where the Ben Wade/Preben Holm logo has been carefully preserved. I’ll let the next owner decide if they want to give it a more thorough buffing.

 

Details:

Length: 7.4″ / 187.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ / 42.67mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 76g