WO Larsen Pearl Smooth Panel Pear 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.

In a previous listing, I discussed how W.Ø. Larsen graded their most spectacular—and, consequently, most expensive—pipes on a 1-10 scale (aside from the “F,” which are a much-debated outlier). I also mentioned that these were W.Ø. Larsen’s celebrated Straight Grain pipes, with “10” being the highest grade, except for the mythical Pearl grade pipes. I brought up that Straight Grain and Pearl grade pipes were made solely by one of W.Ø. Larsen’s most skilled carvers, such as Teddy Knudsen, Hans “Former” Nielsen, Tonni Nielsen, and Benni Jørgensen. Lastly, I mentioned that the Pearl grade pipes are, counter-intuitively, designated by a stamp of a smoker in an armchair, rather than a number, or indeed anything resembling a pearl. But Straight Grains were not the only high-grades the W.Ø. Larsen workshop had to offer. There were also the Select grade pipes, the Selected Grain grade and most importantly for our purposes here, the Birds Eyes grade. The Birds Eyes grade was given to pipes with exceptional bird’s-eye grain patterns and was often graded from 1-10, just like the Straight Grain grade. Additionally—and, again, just like the Straight Grains—very occasionally, a pipe would be created expressing craftsmanship and bird’s-eye grain finer than any pipe on the 1-10 scale, at which point it would graduate to being a Pearl grade instead (though this was far less common an occurrence than even for Straight Grain Pearls). That’s what this one will have been: a Birds Eye that grew up to be a Pearl, just like the fairy tales. This one has the added distinction of a boxwood ferrule, as well as a very unusual paneled pear shape. On the other hand, what better way is there to show off bird’s-eye than a flattened plane?

The condition is great. Some inner rim darkening.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.4″ / 35.56mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g