Here’s a delicate, and refined and even prestigious pipe. It was made by Tsuge’s young, beautiful pipe maker, Kikuchi. It’s also unsmoked. The grade E (which is not stamped on the pipe, the pipemaker’s name is, which is a rarity for Tsuge, as far as I know, and I know pretty far in this case. The “E” grade comes on a piece of paper inserted into the bowl, along with the year of production and the pipe maker’s initial.) retailed for $780 back in 2011. I have that price list. There is also a photo, somewhere, taken with me and Kikuchi at the RTDA trade show. It was nice of Sab Tsuge to ask me to pose with her…if I get to it, I’ll put a Tsuge story on my home page this week. This particular pipe is unsmoked and comes with a Tsuge sleeve that is signed by Kikuchi. Please remind me to include it in the package…I can forget almost everything these days. The pipe is a Grp. 3 size with an open draw and vulcanite stem. New
5.15” long, bowl 1.6” tall. Weight: 1.25 oz., 34 grams.