HS Studio Signature Grade Smooth Tomato w/ 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 has been used in pipe design since at least the Second World War (which at the time, was a consequence of briar scarcity), but in the decades since it has become a staple material in the world of artisan pipes. This plump, low-slung, squat tomato from HS Studio follows the latter in its design, with a long, four-knuckle bamboo extension that reminds of masters as diverse as Japan’s Smio Satou and America’s Abe Herbaugh. It is eminently elegant and well crafted, which I assume is how it earned the “Signature grade” gestured by its stamping.

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

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.11″ / 28.19mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g