Ben Wade Prominence A2, Sandblasted Egg Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

While Ben Wade was a historic British pipe brand, for a time during the 1970s, production of Ben Wade pipes was contracted out to one of Danish pipe-making’s superstars: Preben Holm. Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, Holm was one of the pioneering figures in the ‘Danish design’ movement in 20th century pipe-making, a movement that still dominates the high-grade pipe scene. By hand-shaping his pipes on a belt sander, Holm was able to make the most of the patterns of grain hidden within briar, creating spectacular works of pipe art that looked just as well as they smoked. Owing to Holm’s untimely passing, his pipes are even more highly sought after than they were during his lifetime.

The ‘egg,’ usually in the form of a ‘bent egg’ is as Danish as Vikings or Lego – at least, it is in the pipe world. This is what one looks like through the lens of Preben Holm: large, rugged, but also with a great deal more thought put into it than first appears. The hallmark approach of Holm and his apprentices was to study every block of briar that was to be made into a pipe and to figure out how to make the most of the intricate natural patterns it held, and a common way to do this was to combine sandblasting and smooth polishing. Hence, in this case, areas with good ring grain are blasted, and areas with flame and straight grain are polished. It looks and feels great, and in this instance, the overall shape of the pipe is fairly conservative, giving the best of both worlds.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″

Bowl Width: 24.3mm

Bowl Depth: 2″

Weight: 2.2oz / 63g