Willmer Extra Grain A Smooth Prince Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

H. Willmer and Sons was an English pipe workshop founded at some point in the mid-20th century and closed in the mid-2000s. Harold Willmer himself was the brother of Dan Tennyson, one of Charatan’s freehand carvers, and would, according to Ken Barnes, often buy bowls from Charatan’s freehand workshop, which would be subsequently finished by Willmer’s craftsmen. In addition to these pipes, Willmer also manufactured more traditional briars, which were also made by hand.

The boom in Danish freehand pipes in the post-war period—especially in the 1960s and 1970s—had a profound impact on pipe making around the world, with Anglo-French makes adapting to this shift in a number of ways. One way was to outsource production of “Danish style” freehands to the Danes themselves; another was to incorporate aspects freehand turning into some of their own pipes. With a little help from Charatan, Willmer opted for the latter strategy. This quite traditional prince, for example, looks to not only have been hand-turned, not also features one of the hallmark, flared and faceted stems common to the Danish “fancy” movement, making for an interesting synthesis.

The condition is very good. Some wear to the rim.

 

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.39″ / 35.30mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g