Ed Burak Connoisseur Smooth Calabash Estate Briar Pipe, American Estates

Description

Known as the “dean of American pipe designers” Ed Burak was not a pipe-maker per se. Rather, Burak was someone who worked with the master carvers of his time to bring his distinct ideas of what a pipe could be to life. As the owner of the Connoisseur Pipe Shop, Burak designed freehand pipes so singularly representative of pipe-making as an artistic endeavor, that many of the resulting works ended up in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

While Ed Burak’s designs covered a vast range of shapes and styles, two defining characteristics dominated his portfolio. One was large, tall bowls—often based on traditional Anglo-French shapes with exaggerated proportions—and the other was the steep curvatures they embodied—again, playing on exaggerated figures from briar staples. As a result, many of his designs were highly evocative of musical instruments, especially brass instruments such as horns and saxophones. This rendition of what most closely resembles a calabash shows off that musical motif, especially given the bowl’s pronounced forward cant when one takes into account the angle of the button. In other words, it’s classic Burak.

The condition is very good. Some minor wear to the inner rim and slightly faded nomenclature.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.94″ / 49.27mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g