Ed Burak Connoisseur Smooth Saxophone 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 wind instruments. The “Saxophone” was a shape that Burak frequently returned to, with this rather slender piece appearing to be one such rendition. Somewhere between a tenor and a baritone in Burak’s scheme, it’s surprisingly lightweight for a Connoisseur, with a deep, slightly narrow chamber that promises to make flake cuts sing.

The condition is good. Slight rim darkening and a couple of very small, cosmetic imperfections in the briar, as was typical for Connoisseur pipes. Burak himself thought such things should never be hidden, nor considered a detraction from the artist’s work

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.74 / 18.79mm

Bowl Depth: 2.28″ / 57.91mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g