Bruno Nuttens Hand Made Sandblasted Billiard w/ Spalted Beechwood, Briar Pipe, New

Description

Starting out as a pipe restorer, Belgian artisan Bruno Nuttens moved onto producing his own pipes under the careful guidance of France’s most esteemed master pipe makers, Pierre Morel Jr. Nuttens’ first pipes creating relatively traditional pipes—often using carefully selected, decades-seasoned stummels from France’s historic Saint-Claude factories—but he would soon begin developing entirely handmade pipes in styles that seamlessly blended the old with the new. In the case of the latter, Nuttens was no doubt aided by time spent in the workshop of Danish legend Tom Eltang, where he further developed the skills and techniques behind his craft. Nuttens made such an impact in Denmark, in fact, that he’s been commissioned three times to develop the Stokkebye Pipe of the Year, a number rivaled only by Eltang himself. Today, Nuttens continues to craft high-grade pipes in a variety of styles, including his signature “Bing” and “Twiggy” shapes, all while mentoring students of his own, including the English-born artisan Chris Herriot.

If there is one thing that ties together Bruno Nuttens’s pipes, whether they belong to his Heritage, Bing, or Hand Made series, it’s an inclination toward tradition—specifically, that of Anglo-French pipe design. And there are few shapes more traditional than the billiard. In France, they call it a néogène, as it is the emblem of the birth of briar in Saint-Claude, out of which a whole new world of pipes came into being. This one is a nicely stout rendition, reminiscent of another typically French billiard variant, the Maigret, with a craggy, slate gray sandblast and a cumberland mouthpiece. As with a few of our recent pipes from Bruno, this one includes an accent cut from spalted beechwood, which he personally harvested from a forest local to his workshop.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.59″ / 40.38mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g