Moonlight Pipes “Brass-Necked Bird” Zulu Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

While some pipe-makers take inspiration from the natural world, or from the technologies of present and past, few of them in the contemporary seek to represent these forms in their work. Czech artisan Ondrej Bárta of Moonlight pipes does just that, in a way that recalls the intricate, figural carvings of briar pipes from the turn of the 20th century. But Ondrej also departs from the figural approach of early briar pipes by combining it with high-grade materials and a careful attention to grain patterns that is far more modern.

This latest batch of pipes from Ondrej Bárta has seen a number of unconventional designs, even for him, with a distinct blending of the industrial and organic worlds that he so often takes inspiration from. There have also been a number of pipes that have had some kind of avian influence, which is also quite novel for Bárta’s work. This pipe is exemplary in that regard. Somewhere between a traditional Zulu and a modern, Danish horn in its elementary shaping, this “Brass-Necked Bird” from Bárta begins as a “beak” of hand-cut ebonite and one of his signature faux-spigot mounts, before exploding into a figural carving of dense hackle and plumage, such as one might find on a crow, or a raven. It is meticulously and painstakingly carved, with the combined result not being completely far off from the “duck head” pipes seen across the 19th and 20th centuries, albeit one whose subject was the kind of winged creature more at home in classic gothic literature.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.72″ / 43.68mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g