Jared Coles Sandblasted Drunken Brandy Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Jared Coles is a North American pipe-maker based in California. Coles is one of the undisputed masters of the contemporary American artisan scene, but that shouldn’t be surprising given the teachers he’s had. A pipe smoker since an early age, Coles discovered high-grade pipes while studying at college and took up pipe-making himself in 2008. Coles received precious instruction and advice on making his own high-grades from Jeff ‘J. Alan’ Gracik and Todd Johnson, with the Gracik continuing to provide guidance when Coles teamed up with his friend John Klose to found the collaborative J&J Pipes brand. J&J achieved significant success, but was dissolved in 2015, after which Coles and Klose continued to produce pipes under their own names.

I, like many others, have been eagerly anticipating the next batch of Jared Coles pipes at MBSD, and now that they’re here, they’re proving the old adage that good things come to those who wait. This one I was particularly pleased to see land on my desk. Coles calls it a “Drunken Brandy,” and it’s not difficult to see why. The pipe combines the voluptuous shaping of brandy shapes from the Danish school with a hearty dose of asymmetry, similarly the Japanese masters—think Hiroyuki Tokutomi, or Kei Gotoh, for example. In terms of dress, on the other hand, the pipe wears a thoroughly American contrast sandblast whose alternating hues and textures ripple over its ever-shifting form. Last, but not least, the pipe features a split stem design composed of boxwood and black ebonite. It’s a bold play, bringing each of these elements together in the pursuit of something so distinctive and unique, but it ultimately pays off, with the overall composition maintaining an unshakable coherence. Then again, from Coles, I’d expect nothing less.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.48″ / 37.59mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g