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

Description

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.

Preben Holm’s Ben Wade freehands came in a variety of styles and finishes, and as such a vast array of separate lines. Some of these lines were subdivided into grades (such as the Nobel Prize) and some into groupings. The Golden Walnut was an example of the latter. Alongside the Golden Tan, Golden Matt, and Golden Grain, the Golden Walnut was a quintessentially Danish freehand, bearing a warm, walnut contrast stain, as opposed, for example, to the matte contrast stain of the Golden Matte, or the sandblast finish of the Golden Tan.

Here we have a typically sizeable example of the Golden Walnut, one that further bears just about all of the hallmarks of Holm’s work, from its spectacular vertical graining, to its slight sculptural shaping, and to the live plateaux edge circling either end of the stummel.

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

Details:

Length: 6.6″ / 167.6mm

Bowl Width: 1.00 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.96″ / 49.78mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g