Sebastian Heck Partially Sandblasted Rhodesian w/ Mammoth Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Sebastian Heck is part of younger generation of highly skilled artisans to have emerged from Germany in recent years. Based in Heidelberg, Heck took up pipe smoking—and, ultimately, pipe-making—as part of a conscious effort toward slowing down in an otherwise constantly accelerating modern world. Like many pipe makers, Heck took his first steps into the craft as a restorer of estate and heirloom pieces, which in time brought with it an expansion of his workshop and the tools housed within it. With this as a base, creating new pipes of his own was a natural progression. Heck’s development has been greatly influenced by the Danish and German schools of pipe design, and has included time spent learning directly from fellow German artisans, such as Dirk Heinemann.

One of the pipes that first drew me to the work of Sebastian Heck was a Rhodesian he’d made, which I soon learned was a shape he periodically returned to. Heck’s approach to the Rhodesian is an interesting one, leaning slightly toward certain Danish renditions, but more so to those of 21st century American masters, such as Rad Davis or Don Marshall (a personal favorite of mine). This one is an excellent, mixed-finish version of the shape, with a crisp, ring grain sandblast around the bowl and smooth polished sections on its rim and shank. As with Heck’s Rhodesians that first caught my attention, this one features a beautiful shank accent cut from fossilized mammoth molar.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Please note that this Heck appears to have not been stamped but has been confirmed with the artisan to have been his work.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.30″ / 33.02mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g