Danish Estates: Sixten Ivarsson Peewit with Horn (20) (1970) Tobacco Pipe

We don't often have the pleasure of receiving one of Sixten Ivarsson's highly collectible pipes and are lucky to see even one or two per year, making this 1970 Peewit rendition a truly treasured offering. A legend in the world of pipe making, Sixten started the entire artisan shaping tradition when he stepped away from the lathe-dominated industry norm and decided to shape pipes according to the briar's grain. His approach became known as the "shape first, drill second" method, and he tutored others who went on to be legends in their own right — Jess Chonowitsch, Bo Nordh, Jørn Micke, and of course, Sixten's son and granddaughter, Lars and Nanna Ivarsson, being among his most notable students. Later on, Hiroyuki Tokutomi traveled to Denmark from Japan to seek the Danish master's teaching, and Sixten's influence spread to become a worldwide phenomenon that continues to resonate to this day.

This pipe is a fine example of Ivarsson's design aesthetic. This iteration is Sixten's signature Peewit shape and features a smoothly rounded, Acorn-esque bowl perched lightly on a steeply uplifted shank, paired with a lithe, well-bent vulcanite saddle stem to offer excellent jaw-hanging. The shank and stem exude organicism, with a bulge at the transition foreshadowing the stepped undulations at the shank end and on the stem, first comprising a horn army mount, then a bulbous expansion along the stem base, each element appearing to be a new year's growth of the same tree branch. It offers an artful, understated elegance that begs to be held and admired, a sinuous line that demands the eye and fingertips traverse.

While Sixten is credited as being the first Danish carver to include natural plateau on the rim, a feature which gained prominence, this pipe incorporates another of his oft-used cues, a softly inflated rim with a chamfered interior. Wearing a traditional auburn stain and smooth finish, it puts the briar's natural grain patterns on full display, with vibrant striations of organic beauty melding with the shaping to create the impression of an instrument grown in the wild instead of shaped in a workshop. An enduring piece of history, this pipe offers not just the excellent smoking properties of an Ivarsson pipe but a chance to cradle and protect the legacy of a legend.