Teddy Knudsen Pipes

Teddy Knudsen was born in 1947 in South Zealand, Denmark. He began making pipes in the late 1960s for friends, and this is when he understood that pipe making was to be his focus. Early in his career, he developed a unique style which has been recognized the world over, and has since been borrowed by some other pipe makers. Some of his details are rather long flared trumpet shapes on his stems, and stretched designs. All of his pipes are first carved from Mimo briar (which Teddy selects himself) and each is shaped by hand before drilling takes place. Sometimes it can take years for inspiration to allow him to finish a piece. Each stem is hand-cut from solid ebonite rod with mostly turned and polished tenons from the same material, though sometimes he turns the tenon from a different material. Unlike most other pipe makers, Teddy fixes most of his mounts (olive wood, boxwood, horn) to the stem instead of the shank. The majority of his pipes end up as smooth, though he does sandblast some, and others have rustication in spots (sometimes a continuation of plateau). Preferring to lightly stain the smooth pieces to a similar color found when the burls are wet, the grain comes forth in great detail. Teddy’s highest grade was the eagle, but he sometimes has pipes that are eagle-50, eagle-50+, and (recently) double-eagle.