Tsuge Topper Smooth Stack Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Tsuge is Japan’s largest and most internationally renowned pipe company, having been founded in 1936 by Kyoichiro Tsuge. In the 1970s, however, Tsuge himself was so impressed by the pipes coming out of Denmark, that he sent two of Tsuge’s own master pipe-makers, Kazuhiro Fukuda and Smio Satou, to hone their craft under the likes of Sixten Ivarsson and Jørgen Larsen. Upon their return, the Tsuge Ikebana workshop was established so that Fukuda, Satou, and their apprentices would have the means to create high-grade Japanese pipes to rival even those being made in Europe’s pipe-making capitals. Alongside the Ikebana workshop, Tsuge expanded its range of standard models to reflect the company’s new Scando-Japanese style, including designs by Danish icons such as Jorn Micke and Geert Holbek.

I do so love it when a pipe has a story behind it, and this pipe sure does. But first things first: if you’re familiar with Tsuge’s current output, you may notice that this Topper is not the same as the Topper model that Tsuge currently sells. The current one is a relatively simple billiard, but for its narrow chamber. This is an older model Topper, whose origins reside, like so many unconventional pipe designs, in a Danish tobacconist named Pibe-Dan (or Pipe Dan). Like W.O. Larsen, Pibe-Dan had its own on-site workshop, and was an epicenter for post-war Scandinavian pipe-making. The workshop employed, at one time or another, pioneering artisans such as Gert Holbek, Ib Loran, Sven Knudsen, Ph. Vigen, and Tom Eltang. While Pibe-Dan sold pipes in many styles, it was famous for its stack shapes, one of which was even part of the Pibe-Dan logo. These were the “Dan Shape,” or “Reformed,” pipes. Decades later, Japan’s Tsuge produced a few designs paying tribute to the legendary Dan Shapes, which they named the Topper series. This particular Topper appears to have been loosely based on the “Chimney” Dan Shapes, which were among the tallest in the line.

This Tsuge is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original box and sleeve, as well as a small tool that can be used either as a tamper, or as a reducer for the chamber during situations where a shorter smoke is preferred.

 

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.67 / 17.01mm

Bowl Depth: 2.85″ / 72.39mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g