J Mouton Smooth All Briar Eskimo w/ Fossilized Walrus 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.

J. Mouton is nothing if not versatile, and his portfolio now includes countless distinct designs. This pipe, however, may well be the most unique J. Mouton pipe we’ve had the pleasure of seeing up close. There are a number of reasons for that and, as such, some context is required to fully appreciate it.

There are three main things at play in a design like this one. First, it is an “all briar” pipe, meaning that it is almost entirely comprised of briar (save for the small, fossilized walrus accents it wears). There is no separate mouthpiece; instead, like certain late 19th and early 20th pipes, both the “bowl” and the “mouthpiece” are fashioned from the same material and, in this instance, are entirely continuous. Second, the design borrows certain aspects from a far more modern genre of wide-shank pipe shapes, referred to by names such as the “Eskimo,” the “Inuit,” or the “surfing” bulldog. These are designs that began in post-war Denmark and America, with figures such as Tom Eltang and Ed Burak credited with their creation, and which have become staples in artisan pipes in the decades since. However, this all briar Eskimo by J. Mouton is a little different to typical all briar pipes and indeed to typical Eskimo pipes, and not just because it is a combination of the two. What makes this one truly different is its source of inspiration. Like many pipe shapes in the history of briar, this one was in part based on designs found in the non-briar pipes that preceded it; for Mouton, however, it was some of the earliest tobacco pipes in recorded existence, those of ancient civilizations in the Americas, that were his primary point of reference. The result is genuinely novel, while simultaneously having precedents across three epochs in the history of tobacco pipes.

Details:

Length: 4.1″ / 104.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.29″ / 32.766mm

Weight: 2.2oz / 64g