SU Pipes Smooth Standing Cavalier Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

You may have wondered, as I often do, what would happen if professional meerschaum carver was to turn their attention to briar wood, and to make pipes out of that instead. While many early briar pipe manufacturers, such as Frederick Charatan, made just such a transition back in the late 19th century, both briar and meerschaum pipe manufacture have changed significantly in the century since, making for an interesting opportunity. Enter Sebahattin Urgan of SU Pipes, former apprentice to Eskişehir’s master of meerschaum Emre Bay and now an expert carver in his own right. Urgan’s talents have in recent years extended to handcrafting briar pipes, having been greatly inspired by the legends of Scandinavian and post-Scandinavian design.

Those who were around in the late 1990s and 2000s, or are at least familiar with that time in pipe history, may remember the sheer virtuosity of its cavalier renditions. From the monumental blowfishes of Hiroyuki Tokutomi to the acrobatic “Ostrich” designs of Todd Johnson, the meaning of the “high-grade pipe” would never quite be the same again. Here we find Sebahattin Urgan paying homage to that particular moment in pipes, with a design reminiscent of Johnson’s ratite forms, but in a more scaled down and manageable guise. With its plump figure and shorter (though still quite tall) stature, perhaps “kiwi” would be more appropriate? Then again, a pipe as technically and visually impressive as this one pretty much stands for itself.

Note that as this is one of Urgan’s higher-grade pipes it comes with a custom-fitted hard case.

Details:

Length: 6.4″ / 162.56mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.61″ / 40.89mm

Weight: 3.3oz / 96g