J Mouton Sandblasted Fish Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Born and raised in the small town of Gueydan, Louisana, Jason Mouton’s rise in the ranks of American pipe makers has been nothing less than meteoric—and for good reason. Having crafted duck calls since he was a teenager, Mouton’s first forays into pipe making began with carving tampers. Mouton’s unexpected and substantial successes with these handmade tampers encouraged and allowed him to purchase the equipment needed to create pipes themselves. Studying the works of renowned American artisans such as J. Alan, Grant Batson, and Jared Coles, Mouton gradually developed his own pipe making craft, which was furthered by his exchanges with Greek artisan Chris Asteriou. Today, Mouton’s works are some of the most sought after on the artisan market, a demand which he has responded to—and not unlike his beginnings in carving tampers—by reinvesting his successes into an unwavering advancement of his skills and technique.

To an outsider, it may seem strange that marine life, of all things, has served as such a profound inspiration on pipe-makers. Nevertheless, since the early days of Scandinavian giants such as Sixten Ivarsson and Bo Nordh, aquatic creatures have served as running motifs for those looking to push the boundaries of what a pipe can be. Rather than creating wholly figural works, the majority of artisan pipe-making in the Scandinavian mold has taken singular aspects from undersea forms and incorporated them alongside the more rigid functional requirements of a smoking instrument. This pipe from J. Mouton, for example, is less a reproduction of any particular fish, but an attempt to capture elements of the idea of a fish, such as its caudal flare or its coiling locomotion, along with a general organicism most visible in its soft, plump curvature. Even the color scheme – a highly unconventional black and blonde one, even for pipes of this style – evokes the patterning of such creatures, especially in fish native to the topics.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.5″ / 38.10mm

Weight: 3.1oz / 88g