Preben Holm Traditional Private Collection (A) (101) Extra Large Smooth Freehand Sitter Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, Preben Holm was one of the pioneering figures in the “Danish design” movement in 20th century pipe-making—a movement that still dominates the high-grade pipe scene. By hand-shaping his pipes on a belt sander, Holm was able to make the most of the patterns of grain hidden within briar, creating spectacular works of pipe art that also happened to be exceptional smokers. Holm’s work was so popular, in fact, that he not only put out pipes under numerous makes (such as Wengholt, Monte Verdi, Rungsted), but was also contracted by pipe shops and companies around the world to make pipes for them. Dunhill had Holm produce pipes for the Harcourt make, and Lane Ltd.’s Charatan had him make Ben Wade pipes, at a time when Charatan itself was already at the pinnacle of its freehand output. All of this was achieved in the span of around 25 years, before Holm’s untimely passing, and his pipes remain firm favorites among casual pipe smokers and die-hard collectors to this day.

As mentioned in our recent newsletters, this is one of a significant number of unsmoked Preben Holm pipes that came through our trade-in program recently. A few of those have already been snapped up by our most devoted newsletter readers (don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t already), though there are more to come.

For most of his career, Preben Holm ran a bustling workshop filled with highly skilled apprentices, all of them tasked with making pipes for the brands Holm operated under. Thus, many of these pipes were made by Holm himself, but many were also made by those working under him. Differentiating between a pipe made by the former and a pipe made by the latter is, as such, all but impossible, though there are a few instances where we can be entirely certain of the author. In the case of pipes solely made by Holm, there is one series mentioned as being so by the artisan in his autobiography: the Private Collection.

Once Holm had his workshop up and running, and once he’d established a reliable network of distributors, Holm set out to create a special series of pipes that would be a cut above even the average Preben Holm pipe. He personally selected the finest blocks of briar he could get his hands on and he began making pipes separately from others toiling away in his workshop. The briar he chose came from the very top 5% of his yearly stock, though his exacting standards meant that only around 2% of these blocks became pipes, with the remaining 3% being discarded for lacking the perfection Holm required of them. If Holm did end up with a pipe at the end of this ordeal, it would become part of the Private Collection. Holm was very proud of these pipes, and even their stamping reflected this, swapping the usual “PH” crest for Holm’s own signature.

This particular pipe belongs to the aforementioned Private Collection series, though it is slightly different to most others in that series. The key difference here is not one of quality, but of style; within Holm’s output, pipes that were a little less freeform and a little more conventional by Anglo-French standards were given the “Traditional” designation. This pipe, for example, is not exactly the kind of thing one would find on a 20th century factory shape chart, but it’s also not nearly as brash and bold as something from, say, Holm’s Fancy series. Its burgundy finish is perhaps its most traditional element, to the extent that it is strikingly reminiscent of the one the midcentury Bruyere used to wear.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating, and comes with its original leather carry case.

Details:

Length: 7.1″ / 180.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.94 / 23.876mm

Bowl Depth: 1.99″ / 50.54mm

Weight: 2.2oz / 64g