WO Larsen Birds Eyes Pearl Grade Olifant Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

WO 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.

The Olifant (or Oliphant) is a shape whose origins are found near the very beginnings of Scandinavian pipe design. First conceived by Sixten Ivarsson in the late 1950s, before being further developed by Bo Nordh, its name comes from Medieval hunting horns, which were originally carved from elephant tusks. The shape that would become synonymous with Scandinavian pipes is, however, distinctively paneled, allowing for a smoother transition from bowl to stem and maximizing the appropriate space for specific grain patterns. The stummel is cut so that its sides are streaked with cross-grain patterns, while its front-facing underside and topside are aglow with bird’s-eye effusions.

With this in mind, the difficulty of carving such a shape—and more, of doing it well—should be quite apparent. It is a shape that very few pipe makers have been able to properly master since its conception decades ago. This one comes from Denmark’s legendary W.O. Larsen, however, with which a significant number of such masters were once affiliated. Sixten Ivarsson, for example, worked with W.O. Larsen; Former, Benni Jorgensen, Teddy Knudsen, and Jess Chonowitsch worked on W.O. Larsen’s premises for a time, too, and also made pipes in their own workshops to be sold under the W.O. Larsen name.

Despite W.O. Larsen’s impressive roster of affiliated pipe makers, a piece like this one is still incredibly rare. For one, it bears the shop’s highest accolade for its pipes, the Pearl (designated by the “armchair” stamp on its underside. Pearl-grade pipes were always a fraction of W.O. Larsen’s portfolio, with the majority of pipes sold being standard lines, such as the Two Tone or the Rustica, or one step above standard, such as the Select. Above the Select were the far more uncommon Straight Grain and Birds Eyes series, which were, for the most part, graded from “1” to “10” (in ascending order) and made from start to finish by only the most accomplished pipe makers in the W.O. Larsen orbit. Finally, above the Straight Grain and Birds Eyes pipes that were graded between 1 and 10 were the mythical “Pearl”-grade pipes. To earn a Pearl grade required a pipe to have flawless briar and that its overall craftsmanship was second-to-none.

This brings us to another point about why this pipe is so rare. The majority of the W.O. Larsen Pearl-grade pipes that have survived since its closure were Pearl-grade Straight Grain pieces. This makes sense when taking into account that most “Danish” shapes are ideal for showcasing the vertical striations of plateaux briar, whether it’s an apple, a brandy, a Dublin, or an egg. An Olifant—much like a Ramses or an Elephant’s Foot—is not a “straight grain shape,” however. It was, originally, and still very much is, a “bird’s-eye shape.” Thus, if an Olifant ever was to pass through the hallowed halls of W.O. Larsen and reach its highest heights, it would have to be a Pearl-grade Birds Eyes pipe. To date, this is the only example I’ve seen that did either.

The pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Includes WO Larsen box, leather sleeve, and papers.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g