JT Cooke 2001 Magnum Smooth 1/4 Bent Stack Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

J.T. Cooke is a Vermont-based American artisan carver with a number of impressive credentials under his belt. Cooke was originally based at Elliot Nachtwalter and Jeorg Jemelka’s The Briar Workshop, in a role which included making pipes for Wilke’s tobacconist in Philadelphia. After leaving the Workshop, Cooke collaborated with Barry Levin in establishing the estate pipes market as we know it, by restoring pipes for Levin’s outfit. During this time, Cooke would also begin to make pipes under his own name. Today, Cooke’s pipes are among the most sought after in the American artisan scene thanks to their distinct and often unparalleled shaping, engineering, and finishing. After 50 years in the craft, Cooke retired from pipe-making in 2024.

While J.T. Cooke was renowned for his sandblasted pipes, he was no less skilled at pulling off smooth finishes. And while he leaned towards the classic shapes of English pipe-making, he had his own ways of giving them a distinctly American twist. This pipe, on the other hand, has a slightly “early Danish” quality to it. It’s a little like the pipes of Poul Rasmussen or Sixten Ivarsson (if you’ve seen Ivarsson’s early shape 07 for Stanwell, you might get what I’m talking about). And, much like the pipes of Denmark’s post-war masters, this one features magnificent straight grain. Unlike the early Danes, though, this pipe features a stem cut from hand-poured acrylic rods, and is also very large. I’d go so far as to call it a magnum, as even though it’s a (still very respectable) 6 and a half inches in length, it is astoundingly tall, making the consistency of its grain even more impressive.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original (though slightly flaked) bowl coating.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 2.40″ / 60.96mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g