Herriot Pipes Smooth “Dan Shape Conic” Dublin w/ Horn 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.

As mentioned when Herriot Pipes last graced our shop, Chris Herriot has been recently been spending time not only with one of his mentors, Bruno Nuttens, but with one of his mentors’ mentors, Tom Eltang. Herriot’s pilgrimages to Copenhagen to study under Eltang have borne fruit in a number of ways, from refining the technical aspects of his craft to taking the plunge into more freeform designs (some of which will be included in this latest batch).

In the case of this pipe, Herriot’s time with Eltang appears to have influenced him in another, slightly subtler way. Keen-eyed admirers of early post-war Danish pipes may recognize its angular, “check mark” side profile, for example. This is no accident, as the pipe is an express homage to Pibe-Dan, later anglicized as Pipe Dan, and to its “Dan Shape” variations. The Dan Shape, or Dan Shape Reformed, was an invention of H. Dan Christensen, Pibe-Dan’s founder. It was essentially a tall, yet very lightweight, pipe shape, with a narrow chamber and a “check mark” figure, with such properties being intended to afford a longer, easier smoke, with the chamber remaining vertically-oriented, and the burn evenly dispersed whether the pipe was held or clenched. Herriot’s rendition appears to be an homage to the “Conic” Dan Shapes, both in the Dublin-style shaping of the bowl and the conical chamber. Herriot has added his own, more modern touches, including a slightly wider chamber than the originals (after all, the Dan Shapes had an average internal diameter of just 14mm!), a brilliant, reddish contrast finish, and an inlay of horn within the pipe’s hand-cut ebonite stem.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.68 / 17.27mm

Bowl Depth: 2.08″ / 52.83mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g