HS Studio Sandblasted Reverse Calabash Apple w/ Buddha Bamboo 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.

Bamboo appears to have first been used in Western briar pipe making in the post-war years, and that the reason it was used was to save on briar. Briar was scarce, so pipe makers could get more out of a block by turning a bowl with a very short shank. The shank would then have bamboo fitted to it, extending the overall pipe to a more typical length. But another property of bamboo, which pipe makers soon capitalized on, is that it is absorbent, or more so than briar, at least. A bamboo shank extension could, therefore, also contribute to a drier smoke. This pipe from HS Studio uses a different, thicker kind of bamboo to that used in 20th century pipe making, sometimes referred to as “buddha belly,” or simply “buddha” bamboo. And it does so in a very interesting way. As buddha bamboo is very thick, it can be hollowed out further than other bamboo species, meaning it can be broad enough to accommodate a second chamber, i.e., a reverse calabash. The result is a pipe that is doubly cool and dry as would normally be the case, which is a very interesting combination indeed.

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

 

Details:

Length: 4.8″ / 121.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.16″ / 29.46mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 57g