HS Studio Sandblasted Bulldog w/ Boxwood Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

While China has long been associated with cheaper factory pipes, a new generation of artisans and workshops have emerged over the past decade, producing some genuinely excellent pipes. HS Studio is an example of the latter, being a Hong Kong workshop dedicated to crafting handmade briars, typically in shapes and styles reminiscent of the post-war artisan scene.

As someone who is particularly fond of early post-war Scandinavian pipes, I was very interested when this pipe landed on my desk. I’ve seen quite a few HS Studio renditions of classic modern shapes, such as the cobra and the blowfish, but this one looks to be modeled on a distinct style of bulldogs from the 1950s and early 1960s. These were more like a hybrid of the Anglo-French bulldog and Zulu, and were associated with the great pioneers of Scandinavian design Bo Nordh and Sixten Ivarsson (with several of Ivarsson’s becoming Stanwell shapes, such as the early 03, 33, and 34 shapes). This one is a little more contemporary, however, having a split-stem design cut from boxwood and ebonite.

The pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.52″ / 38.60mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g