S. Bang 2006 Ulf Noltensmeier Smooth Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Originally founded in 1968 by Svend Bang, a former store manager at Denmark’s legendary W.Ø. Larsen, S. Bang would go on to become a legend in its own right, one that would rival even Larsen in fame and acclaim. While Svend himself was not a pipe-maker, he was able to enlist some of the most talented pipe-makers in Denmark to create the S. Bang pipes. In the early days, this included figures such as Ph. Vigen, but it is two makers in particular who would become synonymous with the S. Bang name: Per Hansen and Ulf Noltensmeier. Per and Ulf joined the S. Bang workshop in the early 1970s, and in 1984, when Svend Bang himself retired, Per and Ulf formally took over S. Bang. Per and Ulf’s creations were as admired and coveted as their Danish contemporaries, such as Jess Chonowitsch, Tom Eltang, and Hans ‘Former’ Nielsen. Per and Ulf retired and dissolved S. Bang in 2019, much to the disappointment of pipe smokers and collectors across the world. 

In 1984, when Per Hansen and Ulf Noltensmeier took over the S. Bang make, there were a number of changes that took place. Unlike in previous years, S. Bang pipes were now made solely by Hansen and Noltensmeier; the place of manufacture stamp in the S. Bang nomenclature was switched from its Anglicized form, “Copenhagen,” to the original Danish, “København”; and markings indicating which of the S. Bang craftsmen made a particular pipe became slightly more common. I say “slightly” because pre-1984 S. Bangs had occasionally featured indicators of their maker, and because Hansen and Noltensmeier only included such information on their own work only for specific groups of pipes. Pipes made for the European market, for example, feature grade stamps and, on the high grade pipes, the initials of whoever made it (PH for Per Hansen and UN for Ulf Noltensmeier). Pipes destined for the American market, on the other hand, do not feature grade stamps, as S. Bang only sent high grade pipes to America (and, by “high grade,” I mean their highest grades, as all S. Bang pipes are high grade). These pipes instead feature a date and serial number (sometimes as one code, depending on the year) and, commonly, the initials of their maker. This S. Bang, made by Ulf Noltensmeier in 2006, is a beautiful middle ground between the classic pot and Liverpool billiard shapes, with just perfect grain in every regard.

This pipe is also completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating to help the break-in process, and comes with its original leather sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.36″ / 34.54mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g