Pierre Morel Straight Grain Spigot Churchwarden Estate Briar Pipe, French Estates

Description

Pierre Morel may well be France’s most revered living pipe maker, and can surely be regarded as one of the nation’s all-time greats. While there are a number of notable dynasties in the pipe world, and with them a number of very talented, second-, and even third-generation pipe makers, the Morel family has been making pipes for four generations (an achievement that, to my knowledge, has only been matched thus far by Canada’s Blatter family). If anyone was destined for the life of a pipe maker, it would likely be Pierre Morel. Destiny aside, over the many decades of his career, Morel has had a profound impact on pipe making: as a world-class artisan, a designer and maker of numerous Chacom and Butz-Choquin lines, and as a teacher, with students including the great Bruno Nuttens.

While I mentioned that Pierre Morel came from a long line of pipe makers, I should also note that not only was his father a famous artisan in his own time, that father was also named Pierre Morel. Overcoming this relative hurdle can’t have been easy, but today the younger Pierre is so esteemed that it is rarely necessary to distinguish the two when speaking of the master Pierre Morel. This particular Pierre Morel shows why that is. Featuring impressively carved, large calabash bowl (one worthy of its Straight Grain grade), a hand cut, churchwarden length cumberland stem, and a sterling silver mount, I’m not sure what else one could ask of an artisan to demonstrate the sheer extent of their prowess.

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening and minor handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 11.8″ / 299.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.92″ / 48.76mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 74g