German Pipes (Ingo Garbe, Hasso Baudis, Karl Joura)

[pipehunter]

@Cosmic - Interesting point. And, to a great degree, I agree with you. Even the "Danish" school is more of a historical moment...many (maybe even too many) contemporary American artisan pipes are closer to that style than man current Danish pipe makers.
There are at least a dozen world-class German makers (and probably a hundred others), but I simply found three that really speak to me. Do other pipe maker speak to me? Sure. And I probably have as many American-made pipes as German. But I find the Germans fun to collect. In part, maybe, because they are scarce/underappreciated here. Certainly, I haven't run into many Hasso pipes around town.
All of that said, I think that Garbe and Joura have something special in a combination of engineering and style. They both just happen to be German. But there are a few carvers outside Germany I feel the same way about (Jorgen Larsen among them, and Mike Butera)...I just don't collect them. :D

 

[jerwynn]

Jeez Cosmoid, really? There are NO subtle nuances of language in:

I don't see much Danish influence in German pipes. The Danes are relaxed, loose, and free flowing, yet with a touch of Viking Arrrg! German pipes are always too stiff, rigid in their designs, with too much attention to symmetry and some weird sense of perfection. Safferlings are a tad better, and yes, I see some Danish influence in those, but the rest... Plus, I have found German pipes to seem bulky and weighty in my hands compared to Italians and Danish pipes. Not that they are heavier, just "seem" weighty. I've always gotten the idea from their work that the German pipemakers were tightasses, more sliderule and numbers than beauty and elegance. Just my $0.02

The only real qualifier is your use of "seem"... not that they really are thus and so... just that they "seem" like it to you personally, and so on. Comments like

I've always gotten the idea from their work that the German pipemakers were tightasses, more sliderule and numbers than beauty and elegance.

have nothing to do with aesthetics and everything to do with pigeon-holing by stereotype. You'd apply those sorts of statements to any other ethnic sub-group and you'd have fatwas upon your head!

 

[jerwynn]

So there!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Please keep your posts contributing to the thread topic.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Pipehunter, do you just collect German pipes, or is this a category within your collection?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Back to the o.p.- fine collection! Did not see a bulldog or canadian shape therein- are those shapes eschewed among German carvers?

 

[pipehunter]

Cosmic - In terms of "collecting" it's mostly Germans (maybe 30-40 pipes out of 80-90 nice pipes, plus 20 "beaters"). But I've had a lot of different pipes pass through my collection the last 20 years or so, and I enjoy them all. Currently, the total pipe collection looks something like this:
Ingo Garbe - 30

BST/Bannard - 6

Joura - 6

Vollmer & Nilssen - 5

Paolo Becker - 5

Jorgen Larsen - 5

Hasso Baudis - 5

Emil Chonowitsch - 4

Rad Davis - 4

etc
So, there's definitely a mixed bag of pipes. But in terms of "collecting" as a hobby separate from pipe smoking, I probably am focused just on Germans, mostly Garbe.

 

[tbradsim1]

One of my 2 Emil Chonos, love this little pipe

 

[jvnshr]

We have a nice pipe porn going here, great pictures.

 

[lasttango]

Are Baff pipes difficult to find?

 

[jensen]

As far as I know Ingo Gabe is a German but lives here in Danmark.

 

[mso489]

I'm interested in this thread, for the photo of a major collection of one nation's pipes, but also because I've just been gifted with my first German pipe in a very distinct Danish freehand style. It's a house pipe from Thompson Cigar, which was at the time in Key West but eventually moved to Tampa. The pipe is stamped in an unusual diagonal sans serif type face, "Thompson," and also on the other side in a squared up line "Selected Briar," and on the bottom of the shank, "West Germany." I wrote the Thompson Cigar people to see if they can help, but I suspect that the family members who remembered may not still be with them. Nice piece of briar, plateau on the brim, no plateau on the shank end. Without close inspection, it might pass as a Nording. Less formal than the pipes pictured, and a brighter stain than most of them.

 

[pipehunter]

lasttango - I don't see Baff pipes a whole lot in the US. He (that is, David) is an artisan maker with an output on the order of 100 pipes/year. So his pipes aren't rare than other artisan makers, just that I don't get to Germany much. Not sure about this, but I vaguely recall that most of his pipes are custom orders, so you could certainly have him make one. I think the sandblasts start at 300 euros or so and the smooths at 400. Not sure if that helps. He has a really good reputation, studied with Rainer Barbi, etc.
jensen - Yeah, Ingo carved pipes in Germany until the early 70s then moved to the island of Laeso. I'd always wanted to go there and see his workshop but was never able to do it. Maybe the remoteness is why he really marched to his own drum....
mso489 - Honestly, I have no idea. If you want to post a picture of the pipe and its nomenclature, I'd be happy to see if I could come with with any answers or at least leads.

 

[thomasw]

I have only one pipe made by a German carver, a Werner Mummert sandblasted strawberry wood reverse calabash poker with elk antler.

 

[atjurhs]

From a smokablity view, what do you guys know about Vauen pipes?
I'm really interested in getting a Vauen Spin 6. I don't care about the spin capability of the pipe, I just love the classy look, but I don't want to buy it if it's smokablity sucks, pun intended although it's probably been said before
Thanks for your thoughts!
Todd

 

[pipehunter]

Vauen makes very good factory pipes. In fact, the drilling and stemwork are top notch for the volume of pipes the company produces. Some people liken them to Savinelli in terms of value, though I haven't tried enough to really know.
Unfortunately, I have no experience with the Spin 6 model. The company does have some very inventive/modern designs, though.
Most of their pipes take filters.

 

[moriarty]

I only have a few German pipes. One Joura and four by Uwe Jopp. I don't like all the Jopp pipes that I see but I really love these ones.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Since we are talking pipe porn, I do have a few German factory mades...

This is an Oldenkott, but I made the silver band and the inset opal cabochon.

 

[moriarty]

Nice job on that silver band, Cosmic. Looks like great workmanship and a very tasteful design.

 

[pipehunter]

I really like that band, too. The leaf is a terrific touch.
Moriarty - those are both handsome pipes. Those egg shapes are so appealing.