Martin Romijn Smooth High Contrast Dublin Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Within the modern artisan community, there are many pipe makers with backgrounds in other forms of art, manufacture, and handicraft, and who apply skills learned in their previous vocations to the creation of their pipes. Some artisans are former machinists; others were carpenters; some were even painters in their past lives. Martin Romijn, on the other hand, belongs to a small minority of pipe makers whose previous career was in stonemasonry. Like Germany’s Frank Axmacher, Romijn spent much of his adult life cutting and sculpting stone, doing so across a broad range of practical and ornamental applications. While those days are now behind him, Romijn still carries with him much of what he learned from working with granite, quartz, and marble. The skills and philosophy he cultivated as a stonemason continue to inform his pipe making endeavors, just as they did when he set his sights on briar nearly a decade ago. And, when asked about his technique regarding the latter, he cracks a wry smile, stating simply that “pipe is already inside the piece of briar, I only have to reveal it by taking away everything that doesn’t look like a pipe!” The Dublin is one of Martin Romijn’s signature shapes, one which embodies a hybrid of the Anglo-French staple with the sharper lines more typical of a pickaxe—which is fitting given his background prior to becoming a pipe maker. This one a particularly striking example, whose high-contrast finish accentuates a bounty of fine, straight grain and bird’s-eye patterns. Another interesting tie-in to Romijn’s background in stonemasonry in this instance (along with a couple of other pipes in this latest batch) is the accent this pickaxe wears, which, instead of being a separate material glued to the shank end, is simply an ornate reworking of the briar itself—a technique brought over from his days sculpting stone.   Details: Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm Bowl Depth: 1.49″ / 37.84mm Weight: 1.4oz / 42g