Doctor’s Pipes Flash Grade Sandblasted Squat Tomato Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Doctor’s Pipes are made by artisan pipe-maker Roman Kovalev. Based in Saint Petersburg, Kovalev’s pipe-making moniker derives from his sixteen years spent as a pediatric neurologist, and the consequent nickname of ‘Doc’ given by his friends. Taking up pipe-making in the early 2010s, and with a great deal of inspiration from Japanese masters such as Hiroyuki Tokutomi, Kovalev’s career underwent a meteoric rise that most artisans can only dream of. As one might expect from their maker’s background, Doctor’s Pipes are truly precision instruments; they are also highly inventive, however, with one of Kovalev’s innovations being the sandblasting machine that he designed and built as tailored to his own personal specifications.

So-called “squat” shapes are a thoroughly modern addition to pipe-making, but they nonetheless possess a rich history, especially in the artisan scene. As with many modern pipe shapes, Sixten Ivarsson is their Edison; the “Ukulele” design Ivarsson debuted in the 1960s ushered in new explorations of the horizontal plane that would likely have been unimaginable for his counterparts in England, France, and the United Staes – not to mention impossible using traditional pipe-making methods. As the 1960s progressed, the “Ukulele” became Stanwell’s shape “91,” sitting in their catalogs alongside other wide and vertically compressed shapes, such as the “90” and the “86,” also created by Ivarsson. This pipe from Roman Kovalev has its precedents in later decades in Danish and Japanese pipe-making, such as in the works of Jess Chonowitsch or Hiroyuki Tokutomi, in a shape that would come to be called the “squat tomato.” Yet despite this history, Roman’s reinterpretation is thoroughly idiosyncratic. It possesses the fittingly organic bowl composition of its forebears, but pairs this bowl with two Doctor’s hallmarks: a short, stout, bamboo shank extension (complete with boxwood nodes), and a subtly flared, compact stem.

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.2″ / 30.48mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g