W.O. Larsen Straight Grain (6) Extra Large Smooth Diplomat with Horn (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.

This one looks to be a grade 6 piece, taking the form of a squat brandy or—as I’ve termed it—a diplomat, with a broad, finely grained bowl and a horn accent at the base of its stem. Exactly who made it is hard to tell, though the shaping is, to my eyes, most reminiscent of either Benni Jorgensen (the squatness of the bowl, paired with its sheer bulbousness, being a possible indication) or Teddy Knudsen (given the latter’s proclivity toward large and slightly “stretched,” ovaline profiles across various shapes in his portfolio). Either way, it’s a very fine pipe.

The condition is very good. Some finish fading and some shrinkage of the pipe’s horn accent. This pipe comes with its original box and leather sleeve.

Details:

Length: 7.2″ / 182.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 1.77″ / 44.95mm

Weight: 2.8oz / 82g