Johs XL Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Denmark’s Mogens “Johs” Johansen made his first pipe in 1983, beginning as a self-taught artisan while receiving guidance from his friend, the late Peter Hedegaard. Johs established his own workshop in the mid-1980s, with his pipes quickly garnering significant acclaim. In fact, Joh’s became such a sensation in the Danish pipe smoking community that, at one point, he had to close his doors to the wider public as he was getting so many visitors that it was interrupting his work. Among the growing number of admirers of Johs’s work was none other than the legendary Bjarne Nielsen, who snapped up the former to make Bjarne pipes in 1992. Alongside Tonni Nielsen, Ph. Vigen, and Ole Bandholm, Johs ultimately became one of the main craftsmen behind the Bjarne brand. After Nielsen’s sudden passing in 2008, Johs returned his focus to making pipes under his own name, while also running the Gaden Pibemagerie pipe shop with his wife, Doris. As is common in the Danish artisan community, Johs has since paid forward the debt owed to his debt to Hedegaard by helping to cultivate newer generations of pipe makers, mentoring artisans such as Knud Bech, Johannes Hoffman, Dieter Gottschling.

Mogens Johansen spent years carving freehands under Bjarne Nielsen, so it’s no surprise that he’s one of the most skilled artisans working in that genre today. This one is an impressively large specimen—almost magnum in proportions—with consistent straight grain circling its towering bowl, accentuated by a fiery contrast stain. Johs has always had a knack for shaping, too, with this one achieving the quite miraculous feat of standing (perhaps “perching” is a better descriptor) on its own accord, allowing it to serve as a nice display piece when not in use.

The condition is very good. Minor rim darkening and slight finish discoloration around the top of the bowl. This pipe comes with its original sleeve.

Details:

Length: 7.2″ / 182.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.96 / 24.38mm

Bowl Depth: 1.86″ / 47.24mm

Weight: 3.7oz / 106g