Martin Romijn Smooth Wasp Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Within the modern artisan community, there are many pipe makers with backgrounds in other forms of art, manufacture, and handicraft, and who apply skills learned in their previous vocations to the creation of their pipes. Some artisans are former machinists; others were carpenters; some were even painters in their past lives. Martin Romijn, on the other hand, belongs to a small minority of pipe makers whose previous career was in stonemasonry. Like Germany’s Frank Axmacher, Romijn spent much of his adult life cutting and sculpting stone, doing so across a broad range of practical and ornamental applications. While those days are now behind him, Romijn still carries with him much of what he learned from working with granite, quartz, and marble. The skills and philosophy he cultivated as a stonemason continue to inform his pipe making endeavors, just as they did when he set his sights on briar nearly a decade ago. And, when asked about his technique regarding the latter, he cracks a wry smile, stating simply that “pipe is already inside the piece of briar, I only have to reveal it by taking away everything that doesn’t look like a pipe!”

The wasp is one of the relatively newer staples of post-Scandinavian design, with its popularity attributable to German artisans such as Wolfgang Becker. Distinguished by its plump bowl, slightly raised shank transition, and a notable widening of said shank as it progresses toward the mouthpiece, it mirrors the segmented anatomy and speed of its namesake in flight, while simultaneously subverting many of the conventions of orthodox pipe design. This rendition, from Martin Romijn, is a decidedly compact take on the shape, and a veritable featherweight at that, though with an increased bowl height to make sure that the pipe is suitable for more than just a “coffee break” smoke.

Details:

Length: 4.7″ / 119.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.22″ / 30.98mm

Weight: 0.8oz / 24g