W.O. Larsen Select Special Smooth Cherrywood Sitter with Cultured Amber (Unsmoked 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.

In the early days of the W.Ø. Larsen workshop, the pipes that came out of that workshop were relatively simple in design. They were often very Danish, of course, but they were essentially composed solely of briar and vulcanite (and, occasionally, horn), with the former being finished with the basic oils and waxes available to carvers at the time. It would be many years until specialized finishes—such as the sandblasts showcased on certain Straight Grain models—and modern accents—such as boxwood—became part of W.Ø. Larsen’s design language. In the case of the latter, an additional designation was introduced to mark pipes with extra ornamentation: the “Special.” This cherrywood rendition, for example, features a ferrule cut from two different ornamental materials, hence the extended nomenclature. One looks to be an ivory-like acrylic (possibly Ivorite), whereas the other is an interesting material within Danish pipe making history. Commonly referred to as “cultural amber,” or “cultured amber,” it was a striking and very beautiful synthetic intended to emulate natural amber, and it was quite popular among Danish pipe makers associated with W.Ø. Larsen, such as Poul Ilsted and Teddy Knudsen. Unfortunately for us today, all of the cultured amber created for these purposes was produced by a small, solitary business, whose owners took the recipe “to their grave” when they passed.

As well as its Special accoutrements, this particular W.Ø. Larsen pipe is also a Select grade, belonging to the higher-end output of the workshop.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original box.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.57″ / 39.87mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g