Jirsa “The Best Briar” 1 Magnum Partially Sandblasted Calabash with Brass (Estate)

Founded by Oldrich Jirsa in 1994, Jirsa has been a mainstay in the European pipe workshop scene for over three decades now. In fact, Oldrich himself can count himself among the few pipe makers so renowned in the European market that, like Poul Ilsted, Erik Nording, Hans “Former” Nielsen, Rainer Barbi, Les Wood, and Poul Winslow, there is a whole line of pipe tobaccos named in his honor, made by Dan Pipe. Jirsa’s designs are highly versatile, taking cues from Anglo-French, Danish, and German styles while also having an identity of their own.

Jirsa’s The Best Briar series is not one that I’m all that familiar with, though the small handful that I have encountered have been both a little different stylistically from the majority of Jirsa pipes, and more than deserving of their name. While the majority of Jirsa pipes are (at least today) made according to the fixed shape charts created by Oldrich and his apprentices, pipes in The Best Briar series appear to have been one-offs, and I’d imagine their designs came from a mixture of the carver’s fancy and the natural inclinations of the blocks being worked with. In the case of this one, it’s a gigantic calabash rendition whose proportions are closer to those of the traditional gourd variety than its modern briar counterparts, dressed in a staggeringly consistent ring grain sandblast finish (though with a rim left smooth so as to show off a thick ring of bird’s-eye).

The condition is very good. Minor inner rim darkening, finish fading, and tooth chatter, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 7.5″ / 190.5mm

Bowl Width: 0.93 / 23.62mm

Bowl Depth: 2.50″ / 63.5mm

Weight: 3.2oz / 92g