Buckeye Handmade Smooth Asymmetric Blowfish Briar Pipe, New

Premal Chheda’s Buckeye Pipes have undergone several significant changes since their debut in the mid-2000s. Chheda himself was one of the first major players in 21st century American artisan briars, having been taught the fundamentals of high-grade pipe making by Mike Butera, and having had plenty of students of his own in the time since. Though Buckeye started out as an sub-brand for pipes that did not quite meet the standard of a pipe stamped with the Chheda name, the two would ultimately become different projects entirely. Today’s Buckeye Pipes are, instead, high-quality briars produced by Premal Chheda and his apprentices. The difference between a Chheda Pipe, or one of the pipes made by Chheda’s apprentices under their own name, and a Buckeye pipe boils down to the level of detailing involved: Buckeye Pipes are precision engineered and expertly finished, while being more minimalist in design and less labor-intensive in execution than their counterparts.

While the majority of Buckeye pipes wear sandblast finishes, there are still a few, here and there, that possess briar so exemplary that doing anything other than leaving them smooth would be an insult to their nature. And, as with any good make, Buckeye pipes with the finest natural patterning are given only a light waxing, so that said briar can do its thing undisturbed. This one is a beautiful, slightly stubby blowfish rendition, incorporating the kinds of asymmetry originally brought to artisan briars by the Japanese masters. As a result, the bowl is able to leverage the distinct breadth of its flanks for the purposes of expressing a great flurry of bird’s-eye grain.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.58″ / 40.13mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g