Ryan Alden Queen of Hearts Sandblasted Tipsy Poker Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Texas Artisan Ryan Alden is not only a highly-acclaimed pipe maker, but also something of a renaissance man. Trained in fine arts and other crafts, such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, and leather-working there appears to be very little that he can’t craft with his hands. For us in the pipe world, of course, it is his smoking instruments that shine the brightest. Notable for their first-rate technical precision, Alden is an expert in both classic shapes and in creating novel designs that are completely out of the ordinary.

Ryan Alden’s pipes aren’t always graded, but when they are they’re graded based on poker hands – specifically, the Ace High Straight (or Royal Flush, to our non-American visitors). The pipes begin at a 10 card, and ascend in quality onward; Jack of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts, King of Clubs, and the Ace of Spaces. This “tipsy poker,” an Alden favorite so-named because of its slightly off-kilter lean, is one of Alden’s Queen of Hearts grades. Dressed in a warm, bird’s-eye focused tan sandblast, the pipe features an unorthodox, deep red mouthpiece, though one very much befitting its grade.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original sleeve, having come to us from a new old stock liquidation.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.48″ / 37.59mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g