WO Larsen Select Grade Smooth Brandy Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

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 “Select” was a premium line of pipes from the WO Larsen workshop. While all WO Larsen pipes were high grade, the Select was a cut above the workshop’s “standard” output, and were often worked on by its most talented carvers, such as Former, Chonowitsch, and Tonni Nielsen. What separated the Select from WO Larsen’s other premium line, the Straight Grain, was that, while the Straight Grain pipes were made by just one carver from start to finish, the Select grades were collaborative efforts, made using a typical workshop model. For example, one pipe-maker would be turning bowls that day, another would be cutting stems, another applying finishes, and so on. For that reason, identifying the makers of a particular Select grade is near impossible, though there are some that are so distinctive that they do at least gesture in certain directions. I don’t know who cut the stem on this one, for example, but the shaping of the bowl is remarkably close to the way Poul Ilsted carved some of his brandy shapes. I can’t be certain, of course, but I do have a hunch.

The condition is very good. Some wear and slight charring on the rim.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.38″ / 35.05mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g