David S. Huber 2017 Sandblasted “Ivarsson Blowfish” Estate Briar Pipe, American Estates

Description

Few pipe-makers can claim such a meteoric rise as David S. Huber. While Huber only began making pipes in 2010, doing so as a hobbyist while working as a freelance designer, it would not be long before demand for his pipes allowed him to commit to making them full time. Huber’s resolutely avant-garde approach to shaping makes his pipes unlike almost anything else on the market, while his mentorship from other carvers, including  Jeff “J. Alan” Gracik, Tom Eltang, Per & Ulf of S. Bang, Hans “Former” Nielsen, and Nanna Ivarsson, has ensured that such daring aesthetics are accompanied by the level of technical precision that pulling them off necessitates.

Though slightly conservative by David Huber’s standards, this Danish-American blowfish nonetheless possesses key hallmarks of his distinct design approach, not least in its homage to one of his great mentors. In fact, when it was first sold, it was dubbed by Huber an “Ivarsson Blowfish.” The “Ivarssonian” aspect here relates not to the pipes of Sixten Ivarsson, but rather those of his son, Lars Ivarsson, as well as Lars’ daughter, Nanna Ivarsson. While Lars is purported to have originally created what is commonly known as the “blowfish” shape—i.e., the one with the signature, flat flanking planes and overall “boxy” appearance—Lars himself is likely most readily associated with another fish shape, more like this one seen here. Ironically, the latter is much rounder and far more evocative of its namesake’s inflated form. In any case, Nanna’s renditions of the fish would be even more plump than her father’s, while at the same time being shorter, thereby condensing the shape into something that might fit in one’s pocket, or hang far more easily in the jaw. The surprisingly steep rise of the stem is also a Nanna addition, allowing the pipe to be clenched while keeping the chamber upright (not unlike the guiding logic of the old Pipe Dan “Dan Shape” variations). Huber has never been shy about his debts to his teachers and influences, and continues to produce explicit homages to them to this day. On the other hand, this one’s reserved, near-black blast finish is, to my mind, classic Huber as far as style goes.

The condition is very good. Minor rim darkening and some slight finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.47″ / 37.33mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g