Read time: 7 min.

Neerup pipes come from Peder Jeppesen, a Dane who named his brand as a tribute to one of his grandmothers. Most start as hand-carved designs replicated on automatic machinery before being finished by hand. I have two Neerups, along with two of Jeppesen’s handmade pipes. The ones he made by hand are part of his Ida Easy Cut line. They’d be stunning pieces of functional art if I wasn’t afraid to smoke them!

I haven’t written about pipes in a while because I’ve only admired my Ida Easy Cuts from the pipe rack since I got them. That makes me feel more like a pipe-smoking bougie bitch than a breadwinner! When I first got back into pipe smoking, I thought long and hard about what would be the first new pipe I’d ever buy for myself. Eventually, I came across a $120 sandblasted tomato from Neerup. I’d never heard of the brand, but I loved its looks. Despite my infatuation, I couldn’t fathom spending that much on a pipe, so I got a cheaper Nørding Erik The Red straight billiard and a Savinelli Oscar Tiger instead. 

Eventually, I acquired a Neerup of my own in the shape of a Classic Smooth Bent Pot. Later, I bought a Structure Smooth Bent Pot at a steep discount because it was a used estate pipe. Along with my Boswells and Nørdings, I put the Neerups in regular rotation. They are some of the best pipes I own! Later, I bought my brother a Neerup tobacco knife and tamper for his thirtieth birthday. When I saw an Ida Easy Cut came up for sale in my price range on SmokingPipes, I nabbed it as fast as I could. 

Traditional pipe shapes dominate the offerings of stalwart companies like Peterson and Savinelli. Profiles like billiards, apples, bulldogs, Dublins, Churchwardens, Oom Pauls, pots, Rhodesians, and the rest are enormously popular! Freehands grew in prominence during the 1960s, and my Ida Easy Cuts take the concept to its extreme. The first one I bought measures about 5.9” inches long from stem to bowl, reaches 2.1 inches tall, and weighs 3.4 ounces. The chamber is big- 1.8 inches deep and 0.8 inches in diameter, which allows for a lengthy smoke- in theory. Again, I’ve been too afraid that I’ll drop it or scorch the rim with my match so I haven’t smoked it yet.

Like nearly all of Jeppesen’s pipes, my first Ida Easy Cut features a multicolored acrylic stem. It terminates in a chunk of sandblasted briar that includes the block’s plateaux -its outer edge- around the bowl. A contrast stain heightens the stakes and gives the pipe a sense of drama.

This freehand might be the closest to a fan on a classic shape chart, but only when viewed from certain angles. From the opposite side, I’d call it a bent Dublin because of the flare of its bowl. From the bottom, I’d call it a blowfish! The best course of action might just be calling the whimsical pipe an Ida Easy Cut freehand.

A carver’s whims are pretty important. Artisans start with blocks of briar that get whittled and machined into the objects we smoke. The slightest fracture in the wood from a pebble or speck of dust can ruin an entire block! Fortunately, master carvers like Peder Jeppesen can assess a hunk of briar to figure out how best to turn it into a pipe. In this case, that meant leaving the plateaux towards the top and sandblasting the rest of impurities out.

I don’t really clench my pipes, but this one rests firmly against my chin. It feels like it would be comfortable to pack with eighty cubic feet of tobacco and smoke for hours! This Ida Easy Cut is a Grade 3, which means it’s one of Jeppesen’s lowest-valued handmade pipes. That said, I paid $192 for it, which makes it one of my most expensive. Unfortunately for my wallet, another more expensive example crossed my path shortly after.

My second Ida Easy Cut pipe was $212. It’s the most ridiculous-looking pipe I own. As he began to carve it, Jeppesen realized that he could best utilize that specific briar block if he left the plateaux on the pipe’s left side. With that as his lodestar, he created a graceful, sinuous piece that looks like a fish from one side, a rock from the other, a leaf from the top, and a weird taco with a straw sticking out from the bottom. Although it’s partially sandblasted, the pipe is a Grade 4- one level above my first Ida Easy Cut. I attribute that to its heel, which Jeppesen left smooth. It’s a stunning piece of briar!

I didn’t realize how big the pipe was until it arrived at my house. It’s 7.3 inches long, weighs 4.5 ounces, and features a cavernous chamber big enough to stuff 1.5 cubic inches of tobacco in. That’s half again the size of my first Ida Easy Cut! As with its cousin, I’ve been too afraid to smoke it since I’m worried I’ll ruin it somehow. That is a problem.

I wish it was a humble brag to say I’m worried about ruining an expensive pipe by smoking it, but it’s not- my favorite Boswell cost even more and gets smoked all the time! The real issue is that pipes are meant to be smoked, and I’m not smoking these two.

My dad got me into smoking and supplied all of my early collection. With few exceptions, his were workhorses. He’d give me all kinds of crap if he rose from the grave to see my Ida Easy Cuts sitting on the shelf with Jeppesen’s authenticity slips still in their bowls. He’d gesture widely in emphasis of my pipe-smoking failings as I’d shrink meekly into my chair. He might even gesticulate himself down the staircase if he got mad enough! I can see it now.

The sad thing is that I’d completely understand- Dad’s supernatural reprimand would be just what I needed, so we’d laugh about it and I’d thank him as he drove his ghostly Volkswagen back into the ether. Websites like SmokingPipes are full of one-off pipes made by carvers with even greater pedigree than Peder Jeppesen. They’re all hella expensive, and even used examples are almost always listed as unsmoked. I never understood the point of buying a pipe and never smoking it, and I guess it took writing about these two pipes to see that I’m being an idiot and should just go for it.

Even if they’re too avant-garde for some, pipes like these are beautiful because they were thoughtfully and artistically shaped from the constraints of the briar to serve a real purpose- being smoked. Denying that would leave me without a true understanding of their real beauty, and I’ll report back with my findings as soon as I make the time to actually smoke them.