Description
This is a one-of-a-kind pipe by our in-house pipe maker, Todd Brugman. It is amalgamation of various English shape chart elements and Brugman’s unique pipe shaping cues. It comes together brilliantly creating one unique and cohesive pipe design. This is just one of Brugman’s many unique interpretations of English shape chart pipes incorporating both Danish and Italian shaping cues.
Brugman calls this shape a “Chestnut.” It started as his more literal interpretation of an “acorn”, inspired by a pipe made my Nick Johnson. He is known for his beautiful use and understanding of briar’s grain patterns and his many unique signature shapes, all of which can be easily seen in this work.
The rim has an outward bulge, giving it more surface area, and subsequently showing a stunning display of birds-eye end-grain, also displayed brilliantly along the top and bottom of the shank. The straight grain wraps all the way around the pipe, as perfect as grain could, with an organic yet staccato flow.
This particular pipe has a clear muscular silhouette where the shank tapers from thick to thin transitioning seamlessly into the Cumberland stem. From above, you can see the stem fish-tails, giving a bow-tie like-look, and retaining the balance. This attention to detail is what we have come to expect in a Brugman pipe. He states, “…it is all by design. Every element, every proportion, the exact stain and stem colors, the use of the blocks intrinsic beauty, via its grain pattern is all thought out, over and over again… If you notice something in my work, I assure you it is by design. If you don’t notice something, or can’t put your finger on what and why it looks good, that is by design, and means that it is perfectly cohesive, balanced, and dynamic…”
Brugman is known for his unique style that is highly influenced by neoclassical Italian shaping cues and Danish Minimalism approach to interpreting English shape chart pipes. With near perfect straight grain orientation on all his work, and clearly seen here, Brugman harkens a highly contemporary look yet also a highly classic and timeless aesthetic: it all comes together as his own style, with, in his own words “contemporary Americana shaping cues.”
Brugman has studied the classic pipe shaping conventions, but clearly does not confine himself to them, he just makes what he feels will look and smoke nicely.
This pipe has clear continuity in its design and it has a balanced visual (and physical) weight. It is rendered with precision minimalism; shaped and stained just enough to bring out the intrinsic beauty of the briar.
This pipe has a stem made from SEM German Ebonite in the classic Cumberland. The stem balances with the stummel perfectly. In Brugman’s words, “The stummel (the briar,) is the star of the show, yet perfect harmony should exist between the star of the show and its supporting cast (the stem.)” Therefore, as one should expect, the totality of the pipe and its composition is timeless, beautiful, and sophisticated.
Brugman states, that what Michelangelo said regarding “revealing” from the marble, he has appropriated that concept/approach, as it is the truth, yet he does not claim to compare himself. Brugman says:
I have spent my time learning to make pipes, and continue to spend time studying the briar before and after the pipe is made, to learn how it will be within the block. I do not carve a pipe from the block, I simply revel a straight grained pipe that is in the block of briar, and in my experience, every block has one, it just a matter of finding it.
Brugman was classically trained in the fine arts, and says he approaches a pipes composition in the same manner he would a painting or a relief carving. This fine-art/artistic approach is evident when viewing Brugman’s pipe portfolio, or even seeing just a handful of his works. He, himself says:
“there is no difference in aesthetic and compositional approach in an oil painting, a tobacco pipe, or a musical arrangement… beauty is beauty… the only difference is that a pipe also requires perfect engineering for it to be a good work. The engineering comes first, and then, and only then, is the beauty created to function in conjunction.”
As one can see, despite Brugman’s stated and observed pipe shaping cue influences from English, neoclassical Italian, Danish minimalism and freehands, and even contemporary Japanese, he “paints with his own brush” when creating a pipe, or any work. He also states that the same fine artists that influenced him in his painting from Rembrandt to Willem de Kooning, have equally, along with a long list of pipe makers and styles, influence his pipes and all his art.
Perfectly drilled and engineered, this pipe is as much a precision instrument as it is a work of art, clearly painted with Brugman’s hand.
Brugman guarantees all of his work against defects for life.
4 7/8″ long (from heel to the end of the stem) with a 2″ tall bowl
Weight: 38 Grams
Materials: Briar & Cumberland SEM Vulcanite
