WO Larsen Super Smooth Zulu Estate Briar Pipe, Danish Estates

Description

WO Larsen was a tobacconist in Copenhagen Denmark. In the 1960s, when Danish-style pipes were becoming highly sought after, thanks to revolutionary pipe-makers such as Sixten Ivarsson, a workshop was set up on the Larsen premises to produce enough high-grade Danish pipes to meet demand. This workshop was staffed by the emerging masters of Danish pipe-making, such as Sven and Teddy Knudsen, Hans ‘Former’ Nielsen, Jess Chonowitsch, Poul Ilsted, and Benni Jorgensen.

From what I’ve read, WO Larsen pipes simply stamped “LARSEN” over “COPENHAGEN” were some of the earliest pipes produced by the workshop, back during the 1960s when Sven Knudsen was its foreman. That would make sense for this pipe, which is not only closer to the earlier Scandinavian style of Ivarsson, Rasmussen, [Emil] Chonowitsch et a., but features as shape 114 in an early 1960s catalog. It’s a beautiful design, with that distinctly Danish quality of being difficult to categorize – is it a Zulu? A yachtsman? Whatever it is, I like it.

The condition is good. Some inner rim char and a couple of dark spots on the stummel, though these look to simply be handling marks.

 

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.6″ / 40.64mm

Weight: 1.3oz / 38g