A Question About Tao Pipe Grading

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piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
I recently completed work on this Tao bent acorn…
sxu9LP6.jpg

I had never worked with a Tao before and I usually take those opportunities to try to educate myself a bit about the maker. I’m still a little lost on the grading system though and I can’t find much information out there about it.
The pipe above is an “A” grade…
6HD5BQ7.jpg

I’ve seen other Tao pipes that were graded “A” through “D”. I think I’ve also seen “S” grade pipes, but in hindsight those may have been a Svendborgs. If other grades exist, I’m not aware of them.
Anybody out there have more info?

 

bigpond

Lifer
Oct 14, 2014
2,019
13
The A isn’t an A, it’s an arrowhead, which is his trademark. His grades range from d to s, with s at the peak.

 

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
The A isn’t an A, it’s an arrowhead, which is his trademark. His grades range from d to s, with s at the peak.

Thanks for the input, bigpond, but I believe you are mistaken. The gentleman that owns the pipe above also has a couple of B-grade pipes. You can see a clearly marked C-grade here: https://youtu.be/r3NVyPPqaVA
The grading system that you mention seems to be the Svendborg system. Many of the Svendborg pipes also have the same, stylized "Tao" stamp. So, it's an easy mistake to make.

 

dmcmtk

Lifer
Aug 23, 2013
3,672
1,685
Anthony, the Svendborg Freehand I was telling you about; that if I had to guess, although unmarked as such, was made by Tao.
svenborg1.jpg


svendborg2.jpg


svendborg3.jpg

It's a good sized pipe.
:)

 

piffyr

Part of the Furniture Now
Apr 24, 2015
782
80
Thanks, Dave. That's a good looking pipe. I don't know if it was made by Jens though. It's less stout in proportion than what I typically see in his designs, but I'm no Tao expert (obviously) and maybe he just felt like doing something different that day.
By the way, here's a E-grade Tao:
wYSc6kz.jpg


UWJWHwn.jpg

So, I can now add one more letter grade to the scale.

 
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