Herriot Pipes Sandblasted Poker w/ Fordite Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

In 2003, one of France’s preeminent pipe luminaries, Erwin Van Hove, jubilantly proclaimed, “Hallelujah! One of the very best American artisans has recently settled on French soil.” Two decades later, Antoine Grenard, director of Chapuis-Comoy and president of the Confrérie des Maîtres-Pipiers de Saint-Claude, oversaw the induction of another artisan originally from the Anglophone world into its hallowed brotherhood. Van Hove was, of course, welcoming Trever Talbert. The Confrérie, on the other hand, was welcoming Chris Herriot. Parallels between the two are difficult to ignore; both were outsiders who laid down roots in France and, crucially, thrived by it. Both forged connections with the Francophone pipe community, developing friendships and associations that would help them lay the foundations of their respective brands. And both would build something on these foundations that garnered them significant national and international acclaim.
In Herriot’s case, this meant apprenticing under Bruno Nuttens (himself a former student of Pierre Morel and Tom Eltang), spending several days each week laboring in Nuttens’ Charpey workshop, and the rest of his time in his own. Like Nuttens, Herriot knows the worth of good briar, some of which he uses for his Fledgling series (crafted from seasoned, pre-turned stummels from the Saint-Claude campuses) and some that he uses for his Hand Made pipes (crafted from choice blocks of plateaux briar).

As noted in another listing from this batch of Chris Herriot’s pipes, he has a notable affinity for the classics, such as Dublins, bent billiards, and, as seen here, the poker. And, as also noted in another listing, he’s not averse to using far more modern ornamentation, such as Fordite. Fordite is essentially an upcycled, unexpected cousin to traditional Japanese Tsuishu, a material composed of many layers of lacquer runoff from automotive manufacture, which is collected and polished for various decorative uses. In this case, a small ring of Fordite has been inlaid into the poker’s black ebonite stem, providing a refreshing burst of color amidst an otherwise distinctly reserved aesthetic.

 

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.77″ / 44.95mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g