Pipe Tristan Granite Rusticated Poker Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Pipe Tristan is the name used by French artisan Tristan Lefebvre. Lefebvre is part of a new wave of up-and-coming hand made pipe carvers from the birthplace of briar, following in the footsteps of figures such as Alain Albuisson, Paul Lanier, and Pierre Morel Sr and Jr. Lefebvre credits a wide range of influences upon his pipe-making, such as modern greats from Italy and Denmark, such as Carlo Scotti’s Castello and Tom Eltang, as well as more unique sources of inspiration, such as the centuries-old hunting pipes native to Germany’s southern Bavarian region. As such, Tristan is equally at home crafting his own spin on the ’55,’ the hawbill, or the Danish Dublin as he is reviving the Ulmer Kloben – when he isn’t inventing his own shapes, that is.

The poker is a pipe shape whose popularity seems to come in waves, sometimes moving to the forefront of smokers’ interests, and other times receding into the background amidst the emergence of other more novel, modernist designs. Yet, like the cutty and the billiard, it never truly goes away, and for good reason: it is eminently functionalist, which is why, for example, it is a staple within Tom Eltang’s output. In other words, so long as the internals are sound, it’ll never let you down. Having handled dozens of Lefebvre’s pipes at this point, my faith in his engineering is unwavering. From the drilling of the draft hole, to the cut of the stem, to ensuring that the proportions are balanced in a way that allows the pipe to be a sitter (or setter) without assistance, it is dead-on. This particular poker is dressed in a fumed variant of Lefebvre’s signature Granite finish, a pebble-dash rustication inspired by the great Italian workshops, which has been paired with a hand cut black ebonite stem.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.53″ / 38.86mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g