WO Larsen Straight Grain Grade 3 Smooth Dublin 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.

While even the “average” WO 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 WO Larsen’s highest ranking artisans at any given time, such as Sven Knudsen, Former, Tonni Nielsen, Teddy Knudsen, or Benni Jorgensen, and were priced accordingly. Unlike most other WO Larsen pipes, these were also graded, typically on an ascending 1-10 scale, with the only higher accolade being the mythical “Pearl” grade.
This one is a very respectable grade 3, taking the form of a distinctly Danish, almost calabash like, quarter-bent Dublin. True to its grading, its bowl is surrounded by tightly woven, contrast stained straight grain, erupting in a ring of bird’s-eye at its rim. While Straight Grain grades are often on the larger side, this one is a little more manageable, and indeed may make for a superb-looking clencher.

This pipe is also completely unsmoked, with an original (slightly flaked) bowl coating. It comes with its original leather sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.51″ / 38.35mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g