Sebastian Heck Smooth Rhodesian w/ Acrylester Handmade Briar Pipe, New

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.

There is something to the German style when it comes to shanks. Looking at the pipes of, say, Wolfgang Becker, Dirk Heinemann, Tobias Hose of Bonsai, for example, and indeed Sebastian Heck, one notes a distinct widening flare toward the end, even more so than pipe makers from other locales. Perhaps it’s a vestige—a kind of collective German muscle memory—from having to turn pipes that would once have had to fit a 9mm filter, before pipe makers realized it looked good regardless. In any case, it does look good, with a palpable mirroring of the shank and bowl on Dublin and Rhodesian shapes, as with this one. On the subject of mirrors, one thing I particularly like about this Heck is the grain. While the bulk of the pipe is occupied by tight straight grain and bird’s-eye, there is a slight whorl in the briar near the end of the left side of the shank. Heck’s response was to fit an ivory-like acrylester accent, whose own patterns follow the arc of the grain, creating a continuous circle between these two very different materials.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.30″ / 33.02mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g