Sebastian Heck Wide Shank Brandy Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Sebastian Heck is part of younger generation of highly skilled artisans to have emerged from Germany in recent years. Based in Heidelberg, Heck took up pipe smoking—and, ultimately, pipe-making—as part of a conscious effort toward slowing down in an otherwise constantly accelerating modern world. Like many pipe-makers, Heck took his first steps into the craft as a restorer of estate and heirloom pieces, which in time brought with it an expansion of his workshop and the tools housed within it. With this as a base, creating new pipes of his own was a natural progression. Heck’s development has been greatly influenced by the Danish and German schools of pipe design, and has included time spent learning directly from fellow German artisans, such as Dirk Heinemann.

Part of what makes pipe-making such a precarious profession is briar. What we call “briar” is wood harvested from the root of tree heather, and unlike the root structures of many plants, it grows not in branching tendrils but in large, swollen tubers. These tubers are dense and heat-resistant, making them ideal for carving into bowls for smoking pipes, but they are also products of nature, and as such their growth is always at the mercy of chance and circumstance. The rarity and prized status of straight grain pipes is a reflection of this fact, and the fact that, even once a block of briar has been harvested from the greater root, what may seem to be perfection from the outside can quickly become the opposite once carving begins. Fortune smiled upon Sebastian Heck when it came to this pipe, a bounty that he in turn made sure not to squander. A relatively squat brandy bowl allowed for the positioning of near-perfect straight grain that progresses seamlessly along the stummel’s profile; a wide shank provides a maximized plane of bird’s-eye. The design is reminiscent of certain pipes from Tsuge’s Ikebana workshop, or Heck’s fellow German artisan Peter Klein—both in style and in execution.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.68 / 17.27mm

Bowl Depth: 1.05″ / 26.67mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g