Lacroix 2 Star XL Smooth Egg w/ Horn Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

The Lacroix brand was founded in the 1960s in France, however its roots go back over a century, owing to the Lacroix family’s historic ties to pipe-making. Eugene Lacroix, for example, worked at the Delacour factory in the 19th century; his sons established a factory of their own; and his grandsons, Jean being one, created Jean Lacroix pipes. Today, Jean Lacroix himself is well known for his activities with the French  Confrérie des maîtres-pipiers de Saint-Claude, a kind of hall-of-fame organization for the world’s most accomplished pipe-makers, based in the birthplace of the briar pipe, Saint-Claude.

It’s difficult to find a place on earth that wasn’t affected in some way by the birth of Danish-style pipe making in the post-war decades. Even in Saint-Claude, the birthplace of briar and, with it, “traditional” pipe design, factories, workshops, and artisans were looking north for inspiration. Some of them even studied with the Scandinavian masters, as in the case of Pierre Morel Jr and Sixten Ivarsson, while others, like Chacom, contracted Danish companies like Kriswill and W.O. Larsen to create shapes for them. I would imagine this exceedingly large Lacroix was conceived in a similar manner, though the specifics I sadly do not know. There’s a little bit of the early egg renditions of Jess Chonowitsch to it, for example, though it also has a floral character that existed in French briars independently of the Danes. Whatever the circumstances, it’s a beaut.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. A couple of small scratches around the bowl, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 2.33″ / 59.18mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 76g