HS Studio XL Sandblasted Cobra Brandy w/ Ebony Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

If you’ve been keeping up with the world of Chinese pipe making, their artisan scene has been really taking off over the last decade. Like the great Danish institutions of old, many of these pipes are produced in artisan workshops such as Zhiputang, Qi Studio, and GH Zhang. Hong Kong’s HS Studio follows a similar model, with a team of expert in-house carvers crafting high-quality briars in a variety of styles.

Recently we listed a six and a half inch HS Studio pipe that I said was the largest of the make we’d had to date. I also said I thought I knew why. This one has it beat by over half an inch in length, but again, I’m pretty sure I understand the reason for its size. As I said with the cherrywood, HS Studio is well known for its “homages” to prominent artisans, and aside from the more generic shapes, its usually one or two particular makers being studied. This one looks heavily inspired by the later works of Teddy Knudsen, and by extension one of his most faithful former apprentices, Kent Rasmussen. Knudsen’s always had a way of crafting distinctly larger, distinctly Danish, and yet distinctly elegant pipes, whose lines flow gracefully from shank end to rim. Rasmussen’s pipes are much the same, and both have a certain predilection for slightly narrower bowls, while maintaining a conical chamber. This one follows in those footsteps in the form of a fitting tribute—a practice fundamental to artisan pipe making—adding two ridges on each flank that, like Rasmussen’s pipes, bring it a little closer to modern cobra and sphinx shapes, without taking on the form wholesale.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It comes with its original sleeve, having been acquired from a new old stock (NOS) lot from a local pipe store closure.

Details:

Length: 7″ / 177.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.50″ / 38.10mm

Weight: 2.2oz / 64g