HS Studio Smooth Asymmetric Dublin w/ Reverse Calabash 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.

HS Studio seems to craft pipes in a wide array of styles, though the majority that I’ve seen have been decidedly modern. This is definitely one of the latter. It’s a deceptively large pipe, thanks in part to its swooping curvature that imbues its more or less Dublin shaping with something of the horn as well. It’s also subtly asymmetrical, with a teardrop thank and a ridge that runs from the tear’s point right the way up the rim, before the bowl leaps into a gnarly, plateaux burl top. As if that wasn’t enough, the pipe also incorporates a small, reverse calabash system within its shank, for the purposes of providing a cooler, drier smoke. As I said, this is a thoroughly modern pipe.

It’s also completely unsmoked. There’s a small cosmetic imperfection in the briar on the top of the shank, but frankly it’s so minor in comparison to the pipe’s otherwise excellent straight grain that it’s very easily missed. It won’t impact how the pipe performs, either. The price has been adjusted to account for it in any case.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 76g