Ed Burak Connoisseur XL Smooth Lumberman 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.

Though mildly conservative by Ed Burak’s standards, this Connoisseur still manages to be a thoroughly unique pipe in the dean’s signature style. As Burak’s work tended to be, it’s a rather large piece, blending elements from various other, more traditional shapes into something novel. While its long, oval sthank and short saddle stem essentially qualify it as a lumberman, its bulbous apple bowl (one somewhat reminiscent of a Dunhill ODA 806) takes the Anglo-French staple in a rather different direction. The graining is quite interesting, too, focusing on cross-grain at the bowl’s flanks and bird’s-eye that travels down its front and along the length of the pipe’s underside.

The condition is very good. Minor inner rim darkening and a small, superficial nick on the right side of the bowl.

 

Details:

Length: 6.7″ / 170.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.58″ / 40.13mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g