SON (Skovbo Nording) Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates [SOLD OUT]

Description

if you’re not familiar with the SON name itself, if you know anything about Danish pipes, you’ll probably recognize one of the names that it was an acronym for. The brand was created as a partnership between Jan Skovbo and (in Danish, ‘og‘) Erik Nording, but Skovbo soon left, with Nording taking over as the sole creator of SON pipes. This went on for a few years before Nording dissolved SON to create a brand under his own name. As such, son pipes are not only distinctly Danish – they’re historical arteficts from a time when ‘Danish’ had only just begun to mean something in the world of pipes.

If you like freehand shapes and Danish pipe history, then SON is the perfect make for you. I know, I sound a little like a used car salesman saying that, but it’s true. These were some of the very first pipes in the style we have come to know as ‘freehand,’ made by Skovbo and Nording in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In this one, you can see exactly why the freehand approach went in the direction it did – the grain. The shape of this pipe has been almost entirely designed around bringing the natural flame grain patterns of the briar out, which it does spectacularly.

The condition is remarkable, too. There’s some very minor tooth chatter on the stem and the rim is a little darkened – though that might just be the darker finish used on the plateau, I’m not entirely sure – but that’s all there is to note.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″

Bowl Width: 19.8mm

Bowl Depth: 1.6″

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g