Ben Wade Colindale Smooth Liverpool Apple Estate Briar Pipe, English Estates

Description

While Ben Wade was a historic British pipe brand, for a time during the 1970s, production of Ben Wade pipes was contracted out to one of Danish pipe-making’s superstars: Preben Holm. Though he would tragically pass away at the age of 42, Holm was one of the pioneering figures in the ‘Danish design’ movement in 20th century pipe-making, a movement that still dominates the high-grade pipe scene. By hand-shaping his pipes on a belt sander, Holm was able to make the most of the patterns of grain hidden within briar, creating spectacular works of pipe art that looked just as good as they smoked. Owing to Holm’s untimely passing, his pipes are even more highly sought after than they were during his lifetime.

I’m going to call this Ben Wade a “Liverpool apple,” as that is, to me at least, what it looks like. It’s certainly not a common hybrid as far as shapes go, though there is one particular precedent I can think of. I suspect this Ben Wade was made by Charatan, not only because it is a London-made Ben Wade, but because the shape is uncannily reminiscent of Charatan’s shape 341. Not a bad provenance, if you ask me, given that this will have been during the celebrated Lane era of Charatan production.

The condition is great. Some minor inner rim darkening.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79″ / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.34″ / 34.03mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g