W.O. Larsen (c.1960s) Straight Grain (2) Smooth Ukulele (Estate)

W.Ø. 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.

While even the “average” W.Ø. Larsen pipe embodied a rare excellence in pipe design and handicraft, the pinnacle of the workshop’s output were its Straight Grain and Birdseye grades. These were pipes made, from beginning to end, by the hands of W.Ø. Larsen’s highest ranking artisans at any given time, such as Sven Knudsen, Former, Tonni Nielsen, Jess Chonowitsch, Teddy Knudsen, or Benni Jorgensen. Naturally, such pipes were far from common, and even with a fully-functioning workshop on the its premises, W.Ø. Larsen contracted a few of their associated artisans to carve them in their own workshops and stamp them with the shop’s house branding—such were the lengths that the Larsen family went to so that they could maintain a stock of the finest pipes in Denmark.

Judging by the nomenclature, this looks to be an early W.Ø. Larsen Straight Grain, from around the 1960s or so. It’s an interesting pipe—not just because of its rank within W.Ø. Larsen’s output, but because of its shape. With its squat, low-slung, and exceedingly broad figure, it bears a striking resemblance to the “Ukulele” designs of Sixten Ivarsson. I’m not sure if Ivarsson ever made Straight Grains for W.Ø. Larsen, though plenty of his former students and colleagues did, that’s certain.

The condition is very good. Some very minor darkening and wear to the inner rim, and minor finish fading.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g