Pipe Tristan Natural Granite Hawkbill 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.

Tristan Lefebvre is not shy about the influence of Carlo Scotti’s Castello on his designs. In the past he has made quite a few homages to the hawkbill shapes used by many modern Italian workshops, including Castello’s iconic shape 84. This hawkbill is a little different, however. For one, it has a hand cut ebonite stem, something rarely found on Italian pipes. But the most striking departure Tristan has made here is his combining of the hawkbill with another shape: the calumet. While the calumet has a long history, it has in the last few decades been revived and re-interpreted by other Italian workshops, such as Ser Jacopo and Armellini, as well as solo artisans in the United States, such as J.T. Cooke. With this pipe, Tristan has made his own contribution to that renewal, using its bowed figure to soften the hawkbill’s descending profile. The resulting hybrid has been dressed in Tristan’s signature “Granite” rustication and, as the pipe was carved from an especially good block of briar, it has been left with a minimal, near-naked stain. This will allow the bowl to develop a warm patina over time, similarly to other rusticated high-grades like Savinelli’s Punto Oro Corallo or Castello’s Natural Vergin.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.24″ / 31.49mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 34g