Doctor’s Pipes by Roman Kovalev, Double Flash Smooth Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

While Roman ‘Doc’ Kovalev isn’t shy about his pipe-making influences, I don’t think you could ever call his work ‘derivative.’ When you see one of his pipes, it’s pretty clear who made it. Take this Double Flash grade Dublin: it’s a fairly short and very lightweight pipe, but its bowl is full and wide, along with being playfully asymmetrical; the bowl then transitions into a bamboo application almost seamlessly, one that mirrors the distinct proportions, contours, and asymmetry of the stummel; and as for the finish, the briar displays extremely tight, vertical straight grain and bird’s-eye on the pipe’s topside and bottom, with a few spots of bare plateau to further disrupt the equilibrium of the overall design. There is more than a touch of the Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy to the pipe’s aesthetic, but the pipe nonetheless remains something wholly Kovalev’s own.

This pipe came to us through our trade-in program from the estate of a collector of high-grade pipes. It is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating, and furthermore comes with its original sleeve and certificate. One of the things I really appreciate about Doctor’s Pipes is that Kovalev has kept a log on his website of almost every pipe he has made. This pipe, made in 2018, can be found cataloged at the following web address: http://www.doc-pipes.com/pipe/641

 

Details:

Length: 4.2″ / 106.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.49″ / 37.84mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g