Bjarne Nielsen

mngslvs · Jul 19, 2019

Anyone have opinion about how a Bjarne Nielsen might smoke.....any experiences ?

Below is copy/paste from Pipedia :
The cheaper line was stamped "Bjarne" while the highest grades were stamped "Bjarne Nielsen" (never with the pipemakers' name) and graded, from highest to lowest, by the letters: AX, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J.

pipestud · Jul 19, 2019

I've never smoked a Bjarne Nielsen stamped handmade, but have sure sold a lot of them over the years and heard complimentary feedback from a few of the buyers, never any bad words about about them. Pipedia intimates that different pipe makers made the higher graded "Bjarne Nielsen" stamped pipe, but as he was a talented pipe maker himself, I am not sure of Pipedia's accuracy and would defer comment to those more knowledgeable.
The handmade Bjarne line of pipes have always been considered great values.

npod · Jul 19, 2019

Bjarne is a good old Danish line of pipes. Nothing wrong with them at all. I have one still in my collection and it is made the cut time and again. I like it very much and can't bring myself to part with it. For the price they are good pipes. Not top shelf or highly collectible, but good.

railman · Jul 19, 2019

Somebody else that knows more about the skilled carvers that made pipes for Bjarne (and went on to become well known in the pipe world with their own pipes, such as Tonni Nielsen) can probably comment on that aspect.
I have a grade B that could best be described as a scoop shape. I can’t identify who carved it but they were definitely skilled, perfect engineering. It’s a great smoker. As long as it’s a graded, handmade Bjarne Nielsen I don’t think you could go wrong. As for the non-graded production pipes that may be hit or miss. I owned one of those at one time as well, it was OK but nothing special.

sablebrush52 · Jul 19, 2019

The difference in smoking properties between my inexpensive Bjarne pipes and my 3 to 4 times as expensive "better" pipes can be easily summed up as none. My Bjarnes are all fine smokers.

puffy · Jul 19, 2019

I have a Bjarne that I paid 30 bucks for about 35 years ago.It smokes great..Probably the best value I've ever gotten in a pipe.

Nuuskamuikkunen · Oct 25, 2019

I just acquired myself this Bjarne Nielsen pipe from an online shop, waiting it to be arriving on Monday and cannot wait to try how it smokes! These photos are from the seller, the pipe is unsmoked and stamped "Bjarne Nielsen Handmade In Denmark F". Just out of curiosity, if there are any Bjarne experts here, any knowledge (or an educated guess) about the potential artist who carved this pipe would be appreciated!

shanez · Oct 25, 2019

I love mine! Second pipe I ever owned. First was a basket pipe.

Nuuskamuikkunen · Oct 25, 2019

shanez said:
I love mine! Second pipe I ever owned. First was a basket pipe.

View attachment 6061

That's a beauty! The Bjarne I posted about is my second pipe as well, the first one being a Viking Classic Skagen bent apple, which I do like a lot. I happened to come across this Bjarne N. and couldn't let it slip.

mingc · Oct 25, 2019

pipestud said:
I've never smoked a Bjarne Nielsen stamped handmade, but have sure sold a lot of them over the years and heard complimentary feedback from a few of the buyers, never any bad words about about them. Pipedia intimates that different pipe makers made the higher graded "Bjarne Nielsen" stamped pipe, but as he was a talented pipe maker himself, I am not sure of Pipedia's accuracy and would defer comment to those more knowledgeable.
The handmade Bjarne line of pipes have always been considered great values.

I didn't know Bjarne carved. I remember he said he spent a huge number of days in the year on the road doing his trunk shows. I bought my one and only Bjarne Nielsen high grade from him personally at my local B&M, a beautiful squat bulldog carved, he said, by Vigen. The pipe lacked a grade stamp and he told me he didn't know why, but that it was a C. I was surprised because I thought it deserved better, but then realized he was giving me a break because a higher grade would cost me more. It has a gorgeous contrast stain and a cumberland stem decorated with 2 different kinds of woods, all for around $200, a way more than fair price. I was looking forward to his next visit but he unfortunately passed away before then.

This is is not mine but looks a lot like it.

Pierre1965 · Feb 6, 2020

mingc said:
I didn't know Bjarne carved. I remember he said he spent a huge number of days in the year on the road doing his trunk shows. I bought my one and only Bjarne Nielsen high grade from him personally at my local B&M, a beautiful squat bulldog carved, he said, by Vigen. The pipe lacked a grade stamp and he told me he didn't know why, but that it was a C. I was surprised because I thought it deserved better, but then realized he was giving me a break because a higher grade would cost me more. It has a gorgeous contrast stain and a cumberland stem decorated with 2 different kinds of woods, all for around $200, a way more than fair price. I was looking forward to his next visit but he unfortunately passed away before then.

This is is not mine but looks a lot like it.
View attachment 6092

I'm looking at my first Bjarne (a volcano), but now I'm going to be on the hunt for a squat bulldog because that's a gorgeous pipe!

BROBS · Feb 6, 2020

only problem is Bjarne vulcanite will oxidize if you look at it.

cosmicfolklore · Feb 6, 2020

I love my Bjarne Handmade, and I haven't had the experience of the vulcanite oxidizing at all.
I've met him when he came to The Briary, years ago. Great character.

Sonorisis · Feb 6, 2020

I have a couple of Bjarne pipes and they smoke great, are finished great, and have been durable. I've never understood why his pipes don't bring more of a premium price -- they're worth a lot more than their cost in my experience.

BROBS · Feb 6, 2020

Sonorisis said:
I have a couple of Bjarne pipes and they smoke great, are finished great, and have been durable. I've never understood why his pipes don't bring more of a premium price -- they're worth a lot more than their cost in my experience.

same with Georg Jensen... just kind of unknowns in the US.

cosmicfolklore · Feb 6, 2020

Sonorisis said:
I've never understood why his pipes don't bring more of a premium price

He died in 2008, and at this point his company has made more pipes since after his death than when he was still alive. So, there is no illusion that he has made each and every one by hand. This may play a lot into how the market sees his pipes.

pappymac · Apr 7, 2020

cosmicfolklore said:
He died in 2008, and at this point his company has made more pipes since after his death than when he was still alive. So, there is no illusion that he has made each and every one by hand. This may play a lot into how the market sees his pipes.

Definitely makes it harder to figure out how much the pipes are worth. From what I've read many of the lower grade pipes were just stamped "Bjarne" and were made by carvers like Mogens Johansen (Johs). There are two of them in the group of estate pipes I'm cleaning and selling and they both look like some of the Johs pipes I've seen.

F4RM3R · Apr 9, 2020

I just have a free hand stamped "Bjarne", but it is excellently engineered and smokes very well. Beautiful wood and style. It's a big one with a big bowl though.

Bjarne Nielsen

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