HS Studio Sandblasted “Bo Nordh Ramses” w/Boxwood Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

If you’ve been keeping up with the world of Chinese pipe making, their artisan scene has been really taking off over the last decade. Like the great Danish institutions of old, many of these pipes are produced in artisan workshops such as Zhiputang, Qi Studio, and GH Zhang. Hong Kong’s HS Studio follows a similar model, with a team of expert in-house carvers crafting high-quality briars in a variety of styles.

There are some pipe shapes that have essentially defined the trajectory of post-war pipe making. The Peewit and Ukulele shapes from Sixten Ivarsson are two examples; the Walrus from Sven Knudsen is another. Such shapes not only inspired subsequent generations of pipe makers to create their own, novel designs via the brave new world of freehand pipe carving, but would also become part of an informal “shape chart” that other artisans would return to, time and again. Sweden’s Bo Nordh, one of the godfathers of post-war Scandinavian pipe making, was among the most prolific contributors to this new, modern, informal shape chart. Nautilus, Seahorse, Sphinx, Shield, Elephant’s Foot, Ballerina, Bo Pot, Oliphant—all are shapes that Nordh either created or, at the very least, laid the ground for, or defined in their contemporary forms. Among Nordh’s most famous and most unconventional shapes was the “Ramses,” named for its resemblance to a particular ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. The Ramses was one of Nordh’s last shapes, though no less enduring than his other inventions. This one from HS Studio is a nice homage, being faithfully cut despite the obvious difficulties of such a shape. It breaks with Nordh’s style a little, by way of a craggy sandblast and a boxwood split-stem inlay, though is all the more refreshing for it.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.67″ / 42.41mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g