Chris Herriot Pipes Partially Rusticated Billiard (New)

In 2003, one of France’s preeminent pipe luminaries, Erwin Van Hove, jubilantly proclaimed, “Hallelujah! One of the very best American artisans has recently settled on French soil.” Two decades later, Antoine Grenard, director of Chapuis-Comoy and president of the Confrérie des Maîtres-Pipiers de Saint-Claude, oversaw the induction of another artisan originally from the Anglophone world into its hallowed brotherhood. Van Hove was, of course, welcoming Trever Talbert. The Confrérie, on the other hand, was welcoming Chris Herriot. Parallels between the two are difficult to ignore; both were outsiders who laid down roots in France and, crucially, thrived by it. Both forged connections with the Francophone pipe community, developing friendships and associations that would help them lay the foundations of their respective brands. And both would build something on these foundations that garnered them significant national and international acclaim. In Herriot’s case, this meant apprenticing under Bruno Nuttens, spending several days each week laboring in Nuttens’ Charpey workshop, and the rest of his time in his own.

Though he has lived and worked in France for many years, one aspect of Chris Herriot’s pipes making that could still be said to be “English” at heart is his approach to rustication. Like the great artisans and workshops of late 20th early 20th century Britain before him, Herriot understands that rusticated finishes are an art unto themselves, just as smooth and sandblasted ones are, and as such he takes them very seriously, putting them to good use in his Herriot Pipes. With pipes like this one, we find a nice, twofold juxtaposition between the sharp and stony texturing of the bowl and the simple elegance of the classical Anglo-French billiard, and between the relatively muted tones of the former and the pipe’s brindled blue ebonite mouthpiece.

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.37″ / 34.79mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g