Nate Rose Sandblasted “Cardinal” Sandblasted Bent Billiard Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

As I always say, when it comes to pipe makers, what Canada lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality. Nate Rose is no exception. A former student of the legendary Canadian artisan Michael Parks, Rose first turned his expertise as an automotive engineer into a career as a pipe maker in the mid-2010s. One of his first endeavors in this vein was a collaboration with Michael Parks on the Commonweal project, which Parks personally selected Rose for. Commonweal pipes took their name from the British Commonwealth, as they were made from stummels turned by Les Wood, of Ferndown, which Parks finished and Rose cut stems for. Though he remains firm friends with Parks, Rose operates as a purely solo carver these days, putting out high-grade pipes via his Rose Pipes. Mixing a expressed fondness for classic Anglo-French shapes with a genuinely experimental streak, Rose can be counted alongside some of his fellow countrymen, such as Parks, Julius Vesz, and Todd Bannard, as well as others in the wider artisan scene, as a pipe maker at the very forefront of the contemporary neoclassical movement.

Speaking of the “neoclassical,” here we have an example of just such a design, and indeed of one of Nate Rose’s signature shapes: the Cardinal. Created in honor of a late family member of Rose’s, the Cardinal follows in the same tradition of the swan-neck bent billiards of yesteryear (or, more accurately, yestercentury). Like the old Dunhill LC, Peterson’s X160 series, or the various forgotten makes of 18th and 19th century Saint-Claude, Rose’s Cardinal is distinguished by its tall and rather bulbous bowl, and the supple curvature that flows from its base, right the way up its quarter-bent profile, to the button of its mouthpiece. But, like the northern cardinal itself (a bird native to Rose’s home province of Ontario), Rose’s rendition is both shorter and stouter than its avian-associated counterparts in pipe history, giving it a distinctive look and making it far more suited to the tastes and needs of contemporary pipe smokers. This one wears a subtle, contrast finish over a ring grain sandblast, and is paired with a mouthpiece of hand-cut cumberland.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.68 / 17.27mm

Bowl Depth: 1.83″ / 46.48mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g