Tom Eltang: Smokingpipes.com 15th Anniversary Smooth Devil Anse Tobacco Pipe

The story of the Tom Eltang Devil Anse, which we are very pleased to have representing our 15th Anniversary pipe, began in 2012 — the very moment Tom saw the original clenched between Kevin Costner's teeth in Hatfields & McCoys. How Tom told it to us was, basically, that he immediately went out to his workshop and started on his first iteration. From the beginning Tom made the decision that the Anse should have an oval, rather than circular shank, unlike the mini-series' original, but beyond that still lay a long process of perfecting proportions, curves, the cant, the lines, the just-right breadth and depth of chamber. Finally, he got it (along the way letting the various versions double as test-beds for his new contrast stain, to replace the old Golden Contrast), and then. We had to wait. We had to wait because until just recently, the Tom Eltang Anse was a European-market exclusive design.

Well, it is no longer, and now following our first few examples that appeared earlier this spring, we now have a special batch made by Tom just for a special Smokingpipes occasion, laser-etched with our own logo.

Regarding the pipes Tom produced for this special edition, he split them 50/50 between smooth-finished examples and ones bearing his signature deep rustication. However, amongst the smooths, there was a further sub-division: those with the finest grain of the bunch. This Anse, is one of them.