Makers and Artists

A few months ago, we were in Vegas for the IPCPR show when we spotted a well-known pipe enthusiast and noticed his one-of-a-kind pipe bag — we're familiar with just about every brand out there, yet couldn't place its maker. After chatting for a few minutes, he told us that it was a birthday gift from his daughter, an up-and-coming and talented luxury goods designer in New York. ... Read More

So far we've discussed the origin of these correspondence and briefly touched on one or two folios, highlighting their importance in the history of the modern tobacco pipe. After scanning hundreds of blueprints, drawings, and letters, however, I noticed there was one shape that appeared more frequently than others in Sixten's commission requests and sketches. It was his "Peewit" shape. ... Read More

The Greek phenomena was strange: several younger artisans all cropping up at the same time, all with great appreciation of (and skill in rendering) classics — and none of them starting out with any connection to each other. The Chinese one that I suspect we're seeing the first nascent signs of is arguably even stranger. ... Read More

Back in July of last year, I was planning a visit to Eskisehir, Turkey. While searching for flights, I discovered that one of them had a connection in Greece and thought to myself that I should stop in and see our Greek carvers. Just a few months later, I put the plan into action. I planned on just three days and had alot of ground to cover. ... Read More

You have probably never heard of Bjørn Hoffmann, and there are a number of reasons this could be. Personally, I was entirely unaware of this pipemaker until Sykes turned up at the office with a plastic bag full of letters and sketches. In his recent blog, Sykes explained that these documents once belonged to the great Sixten Ivarsson, but they had long been sitting, unread for ages, in his granddaughter's attic. ... Read More

We have sad news. As some amongst you may have already heard, Paolo Becker, pipemaker extraordinaire, has passed. Like his father Fritz before him, Paolo was a singular fellow, and certainly a singular artisan. He broke every mold of the established Italian, or for that matter any school, creating works of functional art that were, purely "Paolo." ... Read More

In mid-October I had the opportunity to spend some time with our three Greek pipe makers. On a cool morning I started my journey to visit Chris Asteriou for the day just outside of Athens. Despite navigating via subway signs written in a character set unfamiliar to me, I found my way to Marousi and Chris' home. ... Read More

Perhaps five or six years ago, when Nanna Ivarsson first told me that she had piles and piles of Sixten Ivarsson's old drawings and correspondence, my heart skipped a beat. While my career has been entirely in the pipe and tobacco business, I'm educated as an historian and I'm the child of a professor and a university librarian. The very idea of such a trove a pipe history sitting in an attic somewhere set me aquiver. ... Read More

This is part two of this interview. Check out part one HERE.

Bear Graves: I understand that some very major, some might even say "revolutionary," changes are taking place at Luciano, could you help fill us in?

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Bear Graves: I'm here with Luca di Piazza, the promoter extraordinaire of Neatpipes/Italianpipemakers, the owner of Luciano Pipes, as well as the representative for Cavicchi, Radice, Don Carlos, Le Nuvole, Posella, Davide Iafisco, and Tonino Jacono, as well as one of the coolest guys I have had the pleasure of meeting. It's been a while, Luca, how are you? ... Read More