H

ey, everyone. Truett Smith here with Smokingpipes, and today we're going to be talking about Clarin Clay Pipes, a brand based in Brazil that is revitalizing the clay-pipe tradition, seeking to elevate it in the pipe-smoking community, and to create a user experience that's more akin to what we're used to with briar pipes.

A Brief History of Clarin Clay Pipes

First, let's discuss a brief history of the brand. It's run by two people: Edna Bertin, who's a ceramicist and a musician, and Alexandre Vichinheski, who is an industrial designer. And the two met and bonded over their love of pipe smoking — specifically their love of clay pipes — and decided to join and partner together with the shared goal of bringing clay pipes back to their glory days. Before briar pipes, clay was the predominant pipe-smoking material. And Edna and Ale have this desire to reestablish clay pipes as a dominant material in the pipe-smoking community.

Why Should I Consider A Clay Pipe?

Clay pipes offer a unique experience compared to briar pipes. The cleaning process is a little bit different. You don't have to rest them like you do with briar pipes. The smoking flavor is more neutral, whereas briar does impart some of the natural wood flavor into the smoke. So clay pipes do offer a distinctive smoking experience. Even if you're into briar pipes, meerschaum pipes, corn cob pipes, whatever, clay pipes do offer something special and unique.

Artisanal Craftsmanship, From Pipe To Branding

The pair partnered together to create Clarin; the name is an homage to Edna's grandfather who played the Clarin trumpet. It's kind of like a bugle, and he played that instrument. And so the Clarin name is in honor of Edna's grandfather and her background in music as well. Every single Clarin pipe is handmade by Edna. From the molding, to the hand-finishing, to the firing process — all of it is completely hand done by Edna as an artisan. That's typically a rare thing in the clay world. We talk about artisan pipes of briar and even of meerschaum and stuff like that, but clay pipes, there's not necessarily that reputation of artisanal work. However, with Clarin, that is very much the case and they've extended that into the whole package.

This artisanal touch is not only shown in the pipes, but also through the branding, including the boxes. So when you open these boxes, which are really nice, cool, minimalist, and have very clean branding and imagery on them, each pipe is encased in its own pipe sock/bag, just like what a lot of us are used to when purchasing a briar pipe. They've got a really nice brochure that gives some helpful tips on how to smoke and how to care for a clay pipe. So, from the pipes themselves, to the packaging, to the branding, everything is really well done, really thoughtful, really intentional, and really speaks of a high quality and a high level of craftsmanship. We're excited to have them at Smokingpipes.

Canadian and Cutty Clay Pipe Shapes

They currently have two shapes. They've got a classic Canadian, which you don't often think of as being a clay pipe shape. So you think of their second shape as being more of the archetypical clay pipe, and that's of course the Cutty, which dates back centuries to clay tavern pipes of old. Clarin, of course, has one of those shapes in their portfolio. They plan to release more shapes and more regular production stuff, as well as some more limited releases.

Explore Clarin Clay Pipes At Smokingpipes

So go ahead and check out Clarin Clay Pipes on Smokingpipes.com and stay tuned for some of their newer releases to come.