Ingo Garbe Sandblasted Oval Shank Pot Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Ingo Garbe was a genuinely fascinating pipe maker, and for a number of reasons. For one, he is widely credited with being Germany’s very first freehand pipe carver, beginning in the 1960s. Around five years later, though, he moved to Denmark. He’s not the only German pipe maker to have made their pilgrimage to the birthplace of freehand pipes and ultimately decide on settling there. But unlike, for example, Peter Klein (another native German who emigrated to Denmark), Garbe’s pipes were not especially “Danish,” at least in style. Instead, he was a self-professed classicist, articulating views on form that one might even consider “conservative,” especially amidst other pipe makers in Denmark in the 1970s and after. Perhaps this is why, in an interview a few years back, Ken Barnes of Charatan and James Upshall cited Garbe as his favorite pipe maker.

On the other hand, and as can be seen here, Garbe’s pipes might better be described as “neoclassical.” They leaned on classic forms, yes, but they also tweaked these forms a little. Garbe is famous for renditions of shapes that are, for example, a bit fuller, or more supple, or further rounded out than anything out of a Dunhill or Kaywoodie catalog. The same goes for this pot shape. Its bowl is a little broader than average and its shank and stem are flattened out and elliptic, rather than circular. It’s also ever so slightly bent, with what might well be pipe making’s most subtle S-curve running from the button to the bowl’s base. That’s the thing about Garbe, though. You look at his pipes and often it appears like they’re very standard renditions. Then you look a closer, and start to notice things here and there that look different, perhaps even a little odd. But if you look closer still, it starts making perfect sense. Maybe that is what that shape was all along.

The condition is great. Some very light inner rim charring, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.30″ / 33.02mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g