R. KULPINSKI Bruyere 49

Poland, 1980s

A creature of the legend of Polish pipe carving art. Ryszard Kulpinski along with Ryszard Filar started at Walat brothers workshop in 1956 (!). Over the next decades Walat pipes were developed into a highly respected national brand (“walatowka”) despite all possible complications connected with the communist regime: lack of materials (first of all briar), lack of international communication, goverment pressure. In 1983 Ryszard Kulpinski opened own workshop and worked alone. Of course, the new times opened a lot of new opportunities, including access to briar (from Portuhal, Spain and Albania) and Ryszard could offer a wide variety of pipes – from cheaper machine made till handcarved freehands and sculptural pipes (Autograf series).

The pipe markings are “R. KULPINSKI \ BRUYERE \ +49+”. The length is 14.9 cm (6.3″), bowl’s height is 5.7 cm (2.16″). External diameter of the bowl is 4.5 cm (1.65″), internal diameter is 2.0 cm (0.94″). The depth is 4.6 cm (1.81″) and this pipe weights 57 gr. Briar, acrylic stem, no filter. The bore looks to be not perfectly centered but hopefully that’s not a problem for the heavy bowl with thick walls.