Kai Neilsen Flame Grain Old Briar Smooth Dublin w/ Horn Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked, 9mm

Description

To appreciate who Kai Nielsen is, we must go all the way back to the very beginnings of modern Danish pipes. Around 1950, a man named Viggo Nielsen founded Bari Piber in Kolding, Denmark. Viggo was an extremely talented pipe-maker, and his Bari Piber grew to become one of the most renowned makes in the modern Danish mold. Bari employed a number of pipe makers who would later achieve recognition as masters of the high-grade scene, such as Age Bogelund and Viggo’s two sons, Kai Nielsen and Jorgen Nielsen. Bari Piber was sold in 1975, but Viggo, Kai, and Jorgen continued to craft handmade pipes together, under the Faaborg name. After Viggo passed, Kai finally went solo, with his place in the pantheon of Danish masters already long established.

I have heard that Kai Nielsen will spend up to $120 per block for the briar he uses to make his pipes, and that even then, there’s no guarantee that the block in question will be deemed fit to become a Kai Nielsen pipe. This Danish Dublin—a hybrid of sorts of the Dublin, Rhodesian, and calabash shapes—features some extraordinary straight grain patterns, including the “angel hair” variety around its bowl, which many pipe makers would do unspeakable things for. In contrast so some of Nielsen’s works, the overall design is quite ornate, too, featuring “ebony and ivory” accents of acrylic and horn, as well as a highly detailed, hand-cut cumberland stem. In other words, the composition is a little surprising, but the high quality of it is not—Nielsen is the heir to one of Danish pipe making’s great dynasties, after all.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some slight, cosmetic weathering to the pipe’s horn accent, though nothing major. It comes with its original leather sleeve. The pipe is chambered to allow for the use of 9mm filters if desired.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.61″ / 40.89mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g