Rolando Negoita Partially Rusticated Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, American Estates

Description

Born in Romania, Rolando Negoita studied at the National University of Arts in Bucharest before moving to the United States, where he was a professor at the Parsons School of Design in New York. Negoita’s first forays into pipe-making began in what was then the Socialist Republic of Romania, due to impassible difficulties in acquiring them on the market. Negoita thus resolved to make his own. In America, Negoita continued to develop his pipe-making skills, assisted by figures such as Tom Eltang and Trever Talbert along the way. Though he was not born there, Negoita ultimately became one of America’s most renowned artisan pipe-makers, which he remained until his passing in 2021.

While pipe makers tend to have a reliable roster of shapes and finishes in their portfolio, the pipes of Rolando Negoita are reliably different. While he did have a couple of signature shapes, you never really knew what was around the corner when one left his workshop. I always look forward to his pipes landing on my desk, but I’ll admit that part of me fears those rare occasions when they do, as I just don’t know what to call them. This freehand (forgive the catchall term) is evocative of architecture and earthenware alike, and regarding the latter it’s not completely far off from the pignata designs of Italians like Le Nuvole, but it’s also a little bit reminiscent of the old Custom-Bilt pipes. Then again, Negoita was famous for his ability to take inspiration from a vast array of natural and artificial creations. Perhaps someone will be able to enlighten me as to what this pipe was once christened. In the meantime, I’ll stick with different.

The condition is very good. Minor handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.71 / 18.03mm

Bowl Depth: 1.26″ / 32.00mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g