Bennie Joe Pipes Squat Tomato Nosewarmer Handmade Briar Pipe

Description

Bennie Joe Pipes are made by Bennie Joe, an Indonesian artisan based in Jakarta. A trained architect and part-time pipe-maker for much of his life, he took on the latter full-time after a downturn in the property market during the dark days of 2020 and after. An interesting aspect of Bennie Joe pipes is that they are made primarily with hand tools, rather than many of the woodworking machines pipe-makers employ. While the chambers and draft holes are drilled, the body of the pipe is formed using hand tools, creating genuinely freehand shapes reminiscent of those made in mid-century Denmark. It should come as no surprise that one of Bennie Joe’s heroes is the late, great, Bo Nordh.

This Bennie Joe is a curious little shape, one strongly reminiscent of Sixten Ivarsson’s Ukulele, as well as his rendition of this design for Stanwell’s shape 91. Bennie Joe’s leans more toward the squat tomato, and further deviates with its slightly canted bowl, but the Danish influence is strongly evident nonetheless. Looking at the grain, it’s clear why Bennie Joe chose the design he did; carved freehand against a sanding belt, the pipe’s bowl has been shaped so as to follow the natural straight grain patterns of the briar used, which flow parallel to the pipe’s cant. To complete the design, a ferrule of horn has been added, which houses a hand cut ebonite stem. It’s a daring composition, but I’d say it’s been pulled off nicely.

 

Details:

Length: 4.75″

Bowl Width: 19.2mm

Bowl Depth: 1.2″

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g