Jon Vesterholm Smooth Bent Egg Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

Prior to taking up pipe-making, Jon Vesterholm’s was employed as a teacher in woodworking, specializing in cabinetry. Later, he would turn these same talents to the art of pipe-making. Based in Denmark, Vesterholm was fortunate enough to meet and to hone his pipe-making skills with Danish masters Hans “Former” Nielsen and Jess Chonowitsch. Along with figures such as Mike Sebastian Bay, Johannes “Suhr” Rasmussen, and Henri Sorensen, Vesterholm is part of a new generation of Danish artisans that have achieved significant acclaim in the last decade.

When I look at a pipe such as this one, I see a meeting of two “schools” or “generations” of Danish pipe-making, coming together in a delicate balance. On the one hand, it is a plateau-topped, straight grain egg with an accent of bird’s eye cherry burl, that gestures toward the pipes of Danish greats such as Lars Ivarsson and Jess Chonowitsch; but on the other, its graceful quarter-bend and relatively conservative approach to shaping invokes the much earlier pipes of Sven Knudsen and Emil Chonowitsch, Jess’s father. Having read about Jon Vesterholm’s love for both modern and traditional pipe shapes, this seems to me to be a reasonable consequence of that dual preference.

The condition is great. There is some inner rim darkening, but nothing that stops the pipe looking as beautiful as it should do.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.73 / 18.54mm

Bowl Depth: 1.7″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g