I love putting Joura and Barbi pipes next to one another because they were certainly competitive, each having a fine opinion of the quality of his pipe vs the other. Needless to say, to those of us less embroiled in that contest, both merit our admiration. This pipe might well be considered Joura’s signature shape. As well as he was able to read briar (as was, of course, Barbi…two fabulous pipe makers) you can almost say that this plethora of straight grain around the bowl and the Bird’s Eye at the bottom of the bowl, is also a signature of his…but grain like this is too uncommon for it to be considered ‘signature.’ It has to be noted that this pipe was made before Joura started diluting his grading (as almost every pipe maker does…it’s a question of money, isn’t it?); look at other Joura pipes today and you can see that this would be designated a King. In short, it’s quite a good deal at the price quoted here. It qualifies as a Grp. 6 in size, but at the smaller end of that scale. The draw is wide-open, and the stem is acrylic.
5.4” long, bowl 1.8” tall. Weight: 1.75 oz., 51 grams.