Dane Craft S Partially Sandblasted Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Dane Craft pipes are a little bit of a mystery. It has been suggested that the make was one belonging to Wenhall, an American distribution company. Wenhall is probably most famous for the pipes they had made for them by American carvers Michael Kabik and Glen Hedelson, but they also had pipes made for them by Danish carvers, most notably Karl Erik Ottendahl (of Karl Erik and Ottendahl pipes). “Wenhall” make freehand pipes are all but confirmed to have been a mix of Kabik, Hedelson, and Erik, while Dane Craft pipes are believed to have been another make owned and contracted by Wenhall. So, who made this pipe? It could be argued that it was made by someone from Denmark, as the name of the make suggests. But it’s also pretty similar to Kabik’s style and not especially similar to pipes from Karl Erik and his workshop. Perhaps the “Dane” simply meant “Danish-style” as opposed to “Danish-made.”

Anyway, it’s a great pipe. It’s certainly a freehand, but one that in its basic form is closer to the English freehands that came out of the Charatan workshop than most Danish ones. After all, it’s clearly closely modeled on a traditional cavalier, even if it does take that shape in very un-traditional directions (as Charatan also did). The use of mixed finishes is very nice too, with the smooth panels having both a fiery shape and nicely fiery grain to them. Whoever made it, they knew how to carve a pipe.

This Dane Craft is also completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. If it is a Kabik, it’s the first unsmoked one of his I’ve had a chance to handle, which is nice. I’m going to categorize this as a pipe from the US, just because it’s probably from Wenhall, which was itself American.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 1.01 / 25.65mm

Bowl Depth: 1.52″ / 38.60mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g