Ichi Kitahara 2016 Smooth Apple w/ Bamboo Handmade Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Ichi Kitahara is a Japanese pipe-maker, but he’s also something of a renaissance man. He is classically trained in fine art; he has spent time as a high-end jeweler and silversmith; he has also worked as an Itame, the Japanese name for a particularly skilled sushi chef; and last, but not least, he is an artisan maker of high-grade pipes. This he originally learned as an apprentice of Japanese master Hiroyuki Tokutomi, before evolving into a master in his own right, with his own, distinct style.

This Ichi from 2016 is ostensibly a very simple pipe. It is an apple of around group 4 size, with a two-knuckle bamboo extension and a flared ebonite stem. It is lightweight, portable, and likely a comfortable clencher for experienced smokers. But it’s also pretty much perfect. The bowl has 360 degrees of flame grain, the stummel and bamboo have been shaped so as to merge seamlessly with one another, and there’s a consistent ring of bare plateau on the rim, sandwiched between the bowl exterior and the beveled lip of the rim. There might be plenty of pipe makers that could make a pipe like this one, but there are very few that could make this pipe.

This Ichi is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It also comes with its original sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.72 / 18.28mm

Bowl Depth: 1.10″ / 27.94mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g