Ed Burak Connoisseur Smooth Oom Paul w/ Plateaux Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

As mentioned in another listing, the Oom Paul, while “traditional” in essence, was a very “Burak” shape. With its tall bowl, equally tall stem, and rollercoaster curvature, one can only imagine that, if the Oom Paul had not existed when he began designing pipes, he would have easily invented it. On the other hand, most will likely not have seen an Oom Paul quite like this one. Not only is it extraordinarily large (at least for a briar rendition), with a slightly more “Danish” stem and general figure, it also includes the very daring addition of bare plateaux burl at its front face. I am quite curious as to how familiar Burak was with WO Larsen at the time this pipe was made, as there are striking similarities between it and the very early (circa 1960) WO Larsen Fancy shape 1439. With that said, while there are similarities, Burak’s creation bears far more affinities with traditional pipe staples than the aforementioned Larsen, ensuring that it is a genuinely unique, functional work of art.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. There are a few natura, cosmetic imperfections in the briar on the bowls right side, but these will not affect how the pipe performs. They are, furthermore, consistent with Buraks’s aesthetic philosophy, in which such things were never to be hidden, nor considered a detraction from the artist’s work.

Details:

Length: 6.7″ / 170.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 2.55″ / 64.77mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g