W.O. Larsen (c.1960s) Straight Grain (4) Smooth Freehand Dublin (Estate)

About this pipe:

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. Stylistically, it’s a little different to many of the Straight Grain pipes that came in later decades, being more like a “freehand” pipe as we understand the term today. Such pipes occupied a prominent position in W.Ø. Larsen’s early output, grouped under the “Fancy” label.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening and and some worn out fills around the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6.84″ / 173.7mm

Chamber Width: 0.96″ / 24.38mm

Chamber Depth: 1.93″ / 49.02mm

Bowl Height: 2.91″ / 73.91mm

Weight: 3.0oz / 86g