Mutcat Cavalier Sitter Handmade Pipe, New [SOLD]

Description

Mutcat pipes are made by Mutcat Cat, an Indonesian artisan residing in its Central Java province. A pipe-maker for many years, and a pipe-smoker for even longer, Mutcat’s pipes are frequently innovative in their use of alternative, home-grown materials and elaborate forms and finishes. This is not only because of a desire to offer pipe-smokers something new and unique, but because of Mutcat’s own experiences as one. Living in a tropical climate, Mutcat seeks to find novel approaches to pipe construction that can provide a cool, dry smoke whatever the weather.

Along with the calabash, the cavalier is one of the oldest basic designs in tobacco pipe-making, with a lineage that can perhaps be traced back to the Tyrolean hunter’s pipe. Like the calabash, the cavalier has undergone a number of branching evolutions, including changes to the materials used in its construction. One can find, then, briar cavaliers from Italian workshops that are different, but not too different, to the historical porcelain cavaliers of Tyrol; one can also find cavaliers from the likes of Japanese artisans Gotoh or Tokutomi that are radically novel approaches to that essential form. I say all of this in order to introduce this Mutcat cavalier, whose design sits somewhere between the neo-traditional Italian renditions and the avant-garde Japanese ones. It is a true cavalier, with a long, right-angled stem and removable plug at its base (both made from German ebonite); but its main body is also made from teak burl, one of Indonesia’s common alternatives to tree heather briar. It is a beautiful, distinct take on a centuries-old pipe-making idea, and it is also a genuine feat of precision engineering, being a sitter to boot.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.42″ / 36.06mm

Weight: 1.2oz / 36g