W.O. Larsen (c. 1960s) Copenhagen De Luxe XL Smooth Stack Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

W.O. Larsen was a tobacconist in Copenhagen Denmark. In the 1960s, when Danish-style pipes were becoming highly sought after, thanks to revolutionary pipe makers such as Sixten Ivarsson, a workshop was set up on the Larsen premises to produce enough high-grade Danish pipes to meet demand. This workshop was staffed by the emerging masters of Danish pipe-making, such as Sven and Teddy Knudsen, Hans “Former” Nielsen, Jess Chonowitsch, Poul Ilsted, and Benni Jorgensen.

Now this is an interesting pipe. It is a W.O. Larsen, which already carries immense prestige, but it’s quite unlike the majority of W.O. Larsen pipes, especially for those used to the quintessentially “Danish” designs put out by the workshop between the 1970s and ’80s. That’s because it’s an old Larsen, and in fact can be found in one of the earliest catalogs released after the W.O. Larsen workshop was founded on the shop’s premises. Perhaps a little history is required. When W.O. Larsen first began selling Danish pipes, it did so as a vendor for the first generation of major-name Danish artisans, such as Sixten Ivarsson, Poul Rasmussen, and Peter Brakner. But demand for pipes of this kind was so high that W.O. Larsen’s manager, Svend Bang, convinced its owner, Ole Larsen, to set up a dedicated workshop where W.O. Larsen pipes could be made. Sven Knudsen—another Danish pipe pioneer—was enlisted as its foreman, and he and his team of carvers set about making history. The first designs for these pipes were largely created by Knudsen, and were roughly divided into two groups; one was for pipes that could be described as “neoclassical,” as they were largely rooted in traditional Anglo-French shapes, but with a Danish twist; the other was for far more modern designs, typically closer to what we now call a “freehand,” but which were, at the time, called “Fancy” (a naming convention that was common across the Danish freehand scene).

This particular pipe belongs to the former category, which Larsen catalogs simply referred to as “Handmade.” In the 1963 catalog on Pipedia, one can find it on page 23 as the “Handmade No. 67.” It is essentially a billiard rendition, one whose narrow shank leans into the style of classic English billiards, but whose tall, stacked, “tulip”-like bowl has far more common with the Danish briars of the era, such as those found among the Pibe-Dan and Suhr milieus. Whether Sven Knudsen designed this one, I’m not too sure, as it is strikingly reminiscent of the works of Poul Rasmussen. The further you go back, the harder these things are to know. But it is, nonetheless, a very beautiful and very interesting pipe.

The condition is good. Some inner rim charring, chamber slightly over-reamed, and a couple of what look to be worn out fills.

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 2.22″ / 56.38mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g