Willmer Straight Grain AAA Standard Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

This is one of Willmer’s freehand pipes and, as ever, I am left wondering whether the bowl was turned at Charatan, or at the W. Willmer and Sons workshop. It’s certainly one of the latter’s high-grade pipes, a Straight Grain triple-A grade, taking the form of a quite English, freehand Dublin, with a paneled shank and plateaux rim. While not the lengthiest Willmer I’ve come across, it’s certainly very tall, with a voluminous chamber that should keep its next owner occupied for a good while between refills.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some minor handling marks.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 1.98″ / 50.29mm

Weight: 2.2oz / 64g