WO Larsen Straight Grain F Smooth Brandy Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

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.

The “Straight Grain” models were WO Larsen’s finest pipes, being handmade, from beginning to end, by only the most skilled craftsmen in the workshop. These would be individuals such as Sven Knudsen, Former, Tonni Nielsen, Teddy Knudsen, and Benni Jorgensen. Most of the Straight Grains I’ve seen were numbered, and the only letter-graded ones I’ve seen were “F” grade, which makes me wonder if the “F” isn’t a grade at all, but stood for something else—such as Hans “Former” Nielsen, who was at one point the workshop’s foreman. It certainly fits in with his style, as well as his capabilities, being a very elegant Danish brandy with extremely fine and tight “angel hair” straight grain lining its bowl. If I didn’t have bills to pay, this one would have been a keeper for me.

-J.M.

 

The condition is great. Some very minor inner rim darkening and slightly faded stamping (still legible, though).

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.51″ / 38.35mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g