Blog by Steve Laug

Frank Axmacher is one of the rising stars of German pipe making. A stonemason and sculptor by trade, Frank began making pipes under the watchful eye of Bertram Safferling. Later, he was able to further hone his skills while working with such pipe luminaries as Rainer Barbi and Tom Eltang. Using only the finest briar and handcut stems, Frank carves elegant sculptural pieces with flawless craftsmanship.

All Axmacher pipes are stamped with his stylized logo and a custom grading and dating system. The first letters in the grading system (ascending from F to A) indicate the objective qualities of the pipe (grain, flaws, finish, etc.). The second letter indicates Frank’s own personal subjective judgements about the pipe (again rising from F to A). The last two digits refer to the year the pipe was created. (Picture and opening information came from the Iwan Ries website http://www.iwanries.com/frank-axmacher-C1472.cfm )

The pipe I purchased from a friend on Smokers Forums is a beautiful sandblasted pipe. Describing the shape is an interesting process. I would have to say it is somewhere between a brandy and a volcano shaped variation. In other ways it reminds me of a Danish style bulldog. The stamping on this pipe does not match the description of the stamping explained above. Rather it is stamped F.AXMACHER in an arch at the top and GERMANY in an arch at the bottom. In the centre it is stamped 03B. The description above leads me to believe that it was made in 03 and that it is either a B grade or it is B for blasted. Not sure which at this point. The vitals are as follows: length 6 inches, height 1 ½ inches, bore of the bowl 5/8 inches, outer diameter at the widest point 2 inches and depth of the chamber 1 ½ inches.

In this review I want to look at the pipe from a more technical side and walk through its construction, feel and delivery of the smoke to me. The pipe came in a leather pipe sock that is stamped with a sketch of the pipe inside on the leather (a nice touch). The leather pipe sock came with a leather draw string and a nice chunk of briar on the end. When the pipe arrived in the mail I was excited to see and hold one of Frank’s pipes. I had read reviews and scrolled through many pictures of his work but had never held one in hand. In taking this out of the sock I have to say that it is more than I expected from the photos that I had seen before I bought it. The shape was unique and I liked it immediately. The blast was beautiful and the stain perfect. The weight of the pipe is light, I can only wish I had a scale because it is lighter in weight than I expected in a pipe of this size.

Looking at the externals of the pipe. Frank seems to have used several stains to give an undercoat that shows through the contrasting top coat. Depending on the light and angle of the pipe the colour highlights look different. They are a variety of browns and blacks that come through with the light and the angles. The crevices and valleys in the blast are a dark brown in some lights and black in others. The sandblast is gorgeous. There is both a ring grain and vertical lines in the blast. The ring blast is stunning and the vertical lines run at an angle through the blast like wind driven rain. The bottom of the bowl is blasted birdseye grain. The centres of the eye are dark in colour and the ridges surrounding the eye are brown. It is a unique and well done blast that is quite unique among my sandblasted pipes. There is a small band of smooth around the shank where it meets the stem and continuing around the shank of the pipe. On the bottom of the shank there is a smooth patch where the circular stamping is applied. The shank is oval flowing at a slight angle upward from the bottom of the bowl. The flatness of the bowl bottom and shank allow the pipe to sit upright on a flat surface. The hand cut ebonite stem is very well done and comfortable in the mouth. There is a small saddle that sits tightly against the shank that quickly tapers into a thin blade. The taper of the blade is subtle and sporting a 1/8 bent to the stem. It has a thin oval shaped button that is sharply cut and catches well on the back of my teeth. The slot in the button is oval shaped and there is a smooth V slot that facilitates the movement of smoke across the mouth. The polish and smoothness of the finish is like glass. The overall appearance of the pipe and stem is beautiful and it fits my hand very well. The tactile feel of the blast is great whether the pipe is lit or unlit.

Moving from the externals of the pipe to the internal mechanics. The workmanship on this pipe is well done. The angle of the drilling is done in such a way that the bowl is of a uniform thickness throughout. The bowl bottom is relatively the same thickness as the walls of the pipe. The bowl is drilled at the same angle as the exterior of the pipe. The draught hole is precisely where it should be – centred at the back side bottom of the bowl. As the pipe came to me pre-smoked I cannot speak to whether Frank uses a bowl coating. Holding the bowl to the light revealed a clean and smooth airway with no impediments. The drilling in the mortise is clean and smooth. The only area that is bothersome to me is that the angle of the drilling made it necessary to leave quite a deep divot in the bottom of the mortise that makes the wall at the bottom of the mortise very thin for the first ¼ inch. As the tenon goes straight into the mortise this should not be problematic. It is however a potential problem area. The tenon appears to be an inset Delrin piece. It is chambered or funneled to aid in airflow into the stem airway. The inside of the stem is very smooth. There is no roughness or constriction where the Delrin tenon ends and the stem material begins. This transition is smooth. The airway flattens out like a squeezed drinking straw so that the diameter does not change but is flattened and opened.

I have been smoking this pipe repeatedly since it arrived and it smokes very well. The bowl was already broken in and there was a thin cake already forming in the bowl. The pipe smokes dry and clean with no moisture build up or gurgle during the smoke. The ash and any remnants of tobacco in the bottom of the bowl are dry and easily dumped out at the end of the smoke. The draught on this pipe is very smooth – no whistling sound and no sense of having to suck or work to get the air to move through – it is effortless as it should be. It has been and will continue to be a pleasure to smoke, exactly what I look for in a pipe that keeps its place in my rotation.
I would highly recommend that you have a look at the pipes Frank crafts. They are available through several online retails such as Iwan Ries, Scandia Pipes, Al Pascia and others. Frank’s work shows him to be a fine craftsman. I believe this is one of his earlier pipes. His newer pipes are amazingly beautiful. The shapes and designs are unique to him and give the impression of pieces of art. They are beautiful to look at and explore. Have a look at the beautiful work that he does. Frank’s own website provides links to many of these online pipe sellers. http://www.axmacher-pipes.com/