Jess Chonowitsch Sandblasted Bent Egg Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Among today’s vibrant scene of high-grade artisan pipe-makers, there are yet few who command as much respect as Jess Chonowitsch. He began his career in 1966, working alongside his father, Emil, at Teofil Suhr’s workshop and under Poul Rasmussen’s direction. After Rasmussen’s passing in 1967, Jess joined the W.O. Larsen workshop alongside other budding masters, such as Hans ‘Former’ Nielsen, Teddy Knudsen, and Peter Hedegaard, while also spending time studying under Sixten Ivarsson. In 1970, Jess founded his own workshop – again, alongside his father – from which he has crafted his distinctly Danish smoking pipes for the last five decades.

If you’re familiar with the works of American carvers such as Todd Johnson and Bill Shalosky, or some of the models the two have designed for the Briarworks and Moonshine makes, you might have seen a shape like this before. The prehistory of those models is to be found in pipes like this one, and in the almost peerless influence of its craftsman, Jess Chonowitsch. It is what is now commonly called an ‘egg’ or a ‘Danish egg,’ but when it was made, it likely did not have such an established category to fit into. It is tall and stack-like, but it is also very organic in form, possessing strong but nevertheless supple curves from button to rim. The sandblast is ring-grained and craggy, and the stain is a reserved burgundy hue. The pipe is quite portable, and almost a nose-warmer length. I would say it’s a very portable pipe, but then again, its next owner may (understandably) choose to put it in a glass display cabinet instead.

The condition is excellent. There are some minor handling marks on the bowl, but there is little else to note. Pipes like these are perhaps best described not merely as pre-smoked, but pre-loved.

 

Details:

Length: 4.6″ / 116.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.77″ / 44.95mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g