Huge Stone Pipe??

rockvillepete · May 15, 2014

I picked up this interesting piece from an eBay seller who had pipes listed from $35 to an $11,500 Kent Rasmussen butterfly. This one was decidedly on the opposite pole of that lofty Rasmussen but seemed like a pretty nice looking pipe all the same. It was listed as a “Huge Stone pipe.” Hmm, it’s not huge and it definitely ain’t stone so what’s up with that I wondered? It turns out that Huge Stone is the name of a Hong Kong-based art investment and collection company who commission pipes from makers in Europe and China. This one happens to be a "FREEHAND” series, and is inscribed as "HS STUDIO / HAND MADE."

Silver Castle, the pipe brand designed in Quebec but made in Hong Kong is the only Chinese-made pipe I’m familiar with. Nice looking pipes but a tad too small for my tastes. This one is about 6” long with a 2” bowl.
Has anyone heard of Huge Stone or familiar with their pipes? I really like the shape and the grain isn’t too shabby either. It hasn't arrived yet so I'm hoping this Huge Stone won’t have me letting out a huge groan! :roll:

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rockvillepete · May 16, 2014

The HS arrived today and it looks to be a very nice little pipe indeed. It's as light as a feather with a bowl capacity of around a Group 3 or so. Fit & finish appears to be excellent with nary a gap to speak of between stem and shank. The air hole is perfectly centered at the bottom of the bowl. It even came in a nicely made faux-leather sleeve. Of course the real test will be in the smoking but so far so good. It's a shame there's no way of knowing who the actual maker was.

layinpipe · May 16, 2014

Pete, just got mine in a couple weeks ago, check out my thread link...
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/huge-stone-aka-hukes-pipe-well-see-how-it-turns-out

rockvillepete · May 18, 2014

Pete, just got mine in a couple weeks ago, check out my thread link...
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/huge-stone-aka-hukes-pipe-well-see-how-it-turns-out

Very nice layinpipe. How does it smoke? Mine isn't bad except it does get a little warm towards the bottom of the bowl due to decreasing wall thickness. This is a common problem with Dublin-style bowls when the tobacco chamber is drilled straight and not tapered.

layinpipe · May 19, 2014

Actually, it smokes fantastic, all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. It is a small pipe, but with proper sipping, lasts easily an hour. I have no complaints with it as of yet, and for $60 it was a worthwile investment, imo. Hope you are enjoying yours as well!

vallypiper · Feb 22, 2016

I just bought on of these and I have to say I'm impressed.

halfy · Feb 23, 2016

The Hugestone studio is based in Shanghai. The owner of the factory was a former pipe and cigar wholesaler/retailer. After some troubles related to cigar smuggling he could no longer run the business so he hired a group of former woodworkers and established the studio.
The first brand they made was Silver Castle. It was advocated as a brand started by two Canadian guys Sam and Colin and they learned pipe making from Todd M Johnson. At that time they had very little experience in pipe making thus the quality was very poor and a pretty large portion was returned. Then they stared some other brands like Age Golden, Neptune and the current Caesar and Hugestone. It seems their technique has improved a lot over late years. But as for the inglorious history of those guys many Chinese retailers and pipe smokers would stay away from those stuff. And they even feel reluctant to touch anything related to Todd...
I am not saying Hugestone pipes have poor quality. It's quite probable they have developed good skills in pipe making. Either I am not saying the Neptune pipes sold at smokingpipes are still made in that studio. But a simple fact is that this studio made a lot of pipe stamped with that name a couple of years ago. Many people in Chinese pipe community were pretty aware of that. Back in 2013 and before the launch in smokingpipes Neptune pipes could be found everywhere on taboo.com (the Chinese eBay).
P.S. some of you might have seen faux pipes stamped as Castello, Becker and Former on eBay or somewhere in the last two years .......

jvnshr · Feb 23, 2016

Wow, thanks for the info Halfy.

disinformatique · Feb 23, 2016

HS Studio makes good pipes and Annabelle is the seller you bought it from. I have around 10 coming in from her for sale on my website on the eastern side of the world

Chris :puffpipe:

cosmicfolklore · Feb 23, 2016

I have four Silver Castle bamboos, and I love them. They are made as well as all of the rest of my bamboos. I called the eBay vendor after a few exchanges of messages on ebay, and I got that it was a couple of Canadians and that stummels were being made in China, but I was led to assume that they were finished in Canada. I had no idea that Todd Johnson was involved. That seems like a name that she would have dropped to make me feel more confident in buying these.
But, aren't Neptunes made in the Briarworks factory in Tennessee? I wouldn't doubt it if we've been lied to about these pipes, but...
And, yeh, it cracks me up that they put those cheap SilverCastles and Huge Stones on ebay along with a thousand dollar Castello or Former or two.

We have members here that get very wound up when these pipes are mentioned, because they believe without a doubt that they are also making many of the fakes on the market. Which doesn't bother me at all. If they can do a good job making a fake, then these other pipes must be good... and, all of mine have turned out to be great little burners. And, at least the Silvercastles and HS pipes are legit.
Also, I took my first SilverCastle pipe to Skip at The Briary as soon as I got it. He rolled his eyes and waved it off as a cheap Chinese piece of crap, despite me telling him that it smoked great. "Sure, sure, whatever," he said. Then a couple of years later after he did the Chicago show he shows me a rack of them that he has picked up, and he tried to sell me one, having totally forgotten that I was the one who brought him the first one that he ever saw. Ha ha. But, he sold every damned one of those pipes in less than a week. And, everyone that I know that picked one up loves the heck out of it.

halfy · Feb 23, 2016

A friend of mine worked for the HS studio. He said Todd did came to China to teach them. However, he was not satisfied with any piece of work they produced.
It's great to know that some Chinese studio have become capable of making nice pipes.

disinformatique · Feb 25, 2016

@halfy HS Studio despite a rocky past are now making good pipes. Of course some of their pipe shapes follow popular artisan shapes

but they are affordable and they smoke great. I have bought a lot of these pipes for my ex and myself and they smoke great at a great price. Also there are some very talented artisan pipe makers in China. Sam Cui, Pinz Zhan to name a few.
Cheers,

Chris :puffpipe:

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