SU Pipes XL Smooth Pickaxe w/ Bamboo & Bakelite Handmade Smooth 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.

Contemporary Danish artisans have, in recent years, returned to the humble pickaxe for sources of inspiration in their craft. Figures such as Lasse Skovgaard and Peter Heding, for example, have created novel renditions with often bombastic, distinctly Danish flair. This pickaxe follows a similar path, though takes the shape in another direction. Like Skovgaard’s renditions, it’s decidedly tall, with the bowl’s grand proportions juxtaposed with a pencil-thin shank stabilized with aluminum. But Urgan’s also blends the pickaxe, including its modern Danish reinterpretations, with another Danish shape: the horn. Instead of sharp edges, Urgan’s pickaxe is defined by a more organic, conical figure, which maintains the great plane of bird’s-eye grain at its fore while allowing a softer transition of those patterns into the cross-grain at its flanks. In another small example of a more “Urgan” design element, the shank is finally collared by a bead of polished, antique Bakelite, adding an extra dash of color that resonates surprisingly well with the bowl’s light brown finish.

As this is one of Urgan’s favorite works, it comes with a custom-fitted clam-shell case.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 2.24″ / 56.89mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g