Castaway Kirsten Cargo Craft, Cape Horn

Since Nautical/Shipwreck/Beachcomber style is part and parcel of the language of Tiki style, as evidenced in this picture from Trader Vic's warehouse...

...I decided to share a little bit of Kirsten family history with the TC Ohana:

Now while I was hanging out at the Cape of Good Hope not too long ago...

...my sister Jessica went to its equivalent on the other side of the globe, Cape Horn. Though she still lives in my home town of Hamburg, Germany, she has been working for a Norwegian Arctic Cruise line in Buenos Aires on and off. She is also, inspired by my dad, an avid family history buff. This led her to find out about the fate of this ship, which once belonged to the now defunct Kirsten Shipping Line:

This shipwreck is sitting near Ushuiaia, in the Tierra Del Fuego on the Southern-most tip of Argentina:

My sister loves to travel, so she joined a team of documentary video makers, and the photographic results of her expedition were so spectacular that they inspired me to post about them here. Here is a link on an Argentinian website with shots clearly done by a professional photographer:

http://www.tierradelfuego.org.ar/v4/_esp/index.php?especial=desdemona2008

(scroll all the way to the bottom and click on each image for enlarging it)

This ship was called Desdemona, after a female character from Shakespeare's "Othello", in keeping with the family tradition of christening all the Kirsten ships with female Shakespeare character names. Just like many of Shakespeare's characters', the fortunes of the Kirsten Line faltered, when in the 1960s the container business was swallowing up all the small shipping lines. I myself barely remember setting foot on a family ship once, I must have been like 4, here I am with my older brother Oliver:

By the time my dad inherited my grandfather's shares of the business in the 1960s, they were worthless pieces of paper. The ships were sold of to developing countries, and this is what happened to one of them:

http://www.akirsten-reederei.de/desdemona/fotos/dd-anbord/index.htm

The above pics are from my sister's website

Now a post from me always should have some THEN and NOW photos, and some memorabilia:
Here is a photo of the launching of the Desdemona in 1950 in Hamburg:

...THEN, and NOW:

Apparently, the ship's new owner was steering its captain to run it aground so he could collect the insurance, tiz tiz..
Here is the full story:

The poor ship had no idea of this fate when it was happily flying its flags in 1950:

I myself have only a handful of items displaying the characteristic red and white striped Kirsten flag, like this 1950s office calender:

a midcentury modern ashtray:

and a tiny desk ship model:

I blame a lot on my family history, like my nostalgic feelings for small family businesses that are made obsolete by the tides of time, my fondness for sailor's bars, and the fact that I ended up living in America:

Here are my mom and dad on the way to the New World in the summer of 1952:

What, you don't see them? They are standing on the bridge, let's zoom in:

My mom is on the left in overalls and white sailor's cap, my dad is on the right with the captain's cap

My dad working overseas for the shipping line in the 50s is the reason why my brother was born in Montreal, Canada...here is a photo of him in my dad's old Packard in Chicago in 1953:

...and the reason why my biography states that I was conceived on a family freighter on the way back from Chicago to Hamburg. :D

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-13 16:29 ]

That's a wonderful story, Sven... I enjoy family history, and yours sounds very interesting. How long has your family been in the sea business? Do you know any stories about your grandfather? (or HIS grandfather?)

Since 1865. For stories, you gotta ask my dad or my sister. My own interests always lay more with the arts, my ancestors on my father's side just seemed like stuffy and stern businessmen...take good ol' Robert for example, not exactly the laid back kinda guy:

My grand dad died when I was a kid, my favorite picture of him is hauling a bunch of kids in his old "Adler" limousine to our weekend vacation farm:

But I really don't want to make this into a non-Tiki thread, so I will only talk about related aspects, like the fact that one of my ancestors did have some dealings in person in Fiji in the 1870s. He is mentioned in the diary of a Captain Nils Simon Michelsen...unfortunately it's in German, and not of enough interest to be translated:

This Captain Michelsen wrote down some observations on "Traders and Traders' Life in the South Seas", too:

(sorry, am too lazy to translate)

In general I am proud of the fact that some Hamburg shipping families were very active in ethnographic studies in the South Seas, and that the objects they brought back to Europe formed ethnographic collections that eventually grew into the first ethnological museums, like the house Godeffroy:

But I actually feel more akin to another shipping family's member, the man I quoted in the Book of Tiki with the famous "Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream", Karl Woermann, whose father Carl founded the Woermann Line:

Some may remember that I found the above in the office of a Dr. Woermann in Capetown who treated me for a sinus infection when I was working there - a small world indeed. He was a descendant of Karl's brother Adolph, who took over the family business after Karl had declined because he wanted to study art!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Woermann

Only found in the German Wikipedia is the fact that Karl was named Carl initially, because he was the first born son to Carl sr., but when he decided to choose the arts over the family business, his father made him change the "C" to "K" and disowned him, breaking off all contact:

"...Als sein ältester Sohn und geplanter Nachfolger Carl kein Interesse für den Kaufhandel zeigte und stattdessen Kunsthistoriker werden wollte, forderte Carl Woermann von ihm die Änderung seines Namens in Karl Woermann und brach den Kontakt mit ihm ab..."

My dad also was more interested in the arts, but was forced to follow in his father's footsteps. I benefitted from that by getting to follow my calling.

CARL and his son Adolph were typical colonialists, trading African goods for guns and liquor, which even aroused protest in the German Parliament in 1889. Unfortunately all this is only to be found in the German Wikipedia:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Woermann

So KARL did the right thing by becoming an art historian instead, and giving us such a splendid quote to describe today's Tiki Fever! :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-13 20:37 ]

Wow, that was inspiring, Sven.

I've been looking into my family history for about ten years now, and there are all kinds of characters that I can see some of my inspiration in. I'm still looking for the link about how a kid from a conservative military family could have gravitated to intensly to the left, the arts and the beachcomber aesthetic. Maybe, like a lot of my bohemian heroes of the past, I lost faith in God and country pretty quick, and went looking for a country and an indentity. I knew before reading "Tales of the South Pacific" that my grandfather, Austin Chidester, was awarded the Purple Heart for service in Bora Bora during World War II. But he never talks about it.

So, Sven, you're a son of a son of a sailor.
Just like... nevermind.

Ahoi! Captain of the ocean and the tiki tribe. Let´s set sail!
Wow, I have just read this thread and totaly chach from adventure feelings.
You have a realy interesting family history and it´s geat that your sister search for it.
So, it will be keep alive for your offspring.

I remember when I visited some years ago my dads birthplace in Berlin.
A big old house with many barns and a fruit orchard.
All my paternal ancestors lifed there. My grandmother and grandaunt had an store for housewares there
and my great-grandfather a garage where he worked for a barrel-maker.

So there lifed a lots of people in that house and nobody has chuck out anything.
They keep all the old furniture, dinnerware, clothes.... at the attic.
The house was full of history and I could find a lots of interesting things.
Such as I found a place in the eerie basement were I saw a broken open second wall.
They conceal their valuables behind the second wall between the war. It looked like it was yesterday.
Very depressing!

Sadly, the most of my older ancestors are already dead and so it´s hard for me to find out more.

O.K. that´s enough! I´ll watch the pics of the MS Desdemona again.
Oh captain, Sir, let´s refloat the ship and start a tiki pirate trip over the world!

Moin, Moin,

Kai

Yes, Kai, ummm...YAVOLL! :) Thank You! -Kai is working on an exhibit of his carvings in the US with Crazy Al, and it will be splendid!

Folks, I cannot hold back any longer on this exciting discovery I made last week. It again touches on Tiki because of its nautical connotations, but also on this particular thread because of:

I also believe this find is in keeping with the Ohana's interest in esoteric vintage objects, which this certainly is! A German professor of Aeronautical Engineering created this pipe- and-the most amazing thing is: They are still making these TODAY, exactly like in the 1940s!

Here is a bit of his history, (my dad says this was most likely a different Kirsten family...but it sounds sooo close!):

It is by no means merely puffery to say that Professor Frederick K. Kirsten was a genuine American original. He first sailed to this country in 1902, as a cabin boy from Hamburg, Germany. After successfully rounding the Horn and eluding the shanghai gangs of the West Coast, he navigated the educational system at the University of Washington to become a Professor of Aeronautical Engineering. Here, his inventive spirit took wing. He created the world-famous Kirsten Wind Tunnel, Air-washing equipment for factories, an air-cooled Utopian Bed, and, most notably, a revolutionary propeller which enables boats to stop and turn on a dime. Today, in the same waters where he jumped ship almost 100 years ago, ocean-going vessels are landed by sturdy tugs driven by Kirsten cycloidal propellers, PILOTED BY EQUALLY STURDY CAPTAINS SMOKING COOL KIRSTEN PIPES.>Step inside our NAUTICAL THEMED store and browse hundreds of items including our signature line of Kirsten pipes, briar pipes from other world renowned craftsmen, humidors, lighters, flasks, fine knives, and many other great gift items.

Please allow me to be among the first to order a pair.

Jah bless,

Jah Jim aka Rasta Jim

Thank you JIM ! Would anyone else be interested in buying a Kirsten TIKI Pipe, if it existed? I could see two or three styles carved...Ku...Marquesan....Cook Islands... Who else smokes pipe here....let's see...Crazy Al...Jochen...

I am really thinking about approaching the Kirsten Pipe company with this, Holden has offered his help, I just would like to get some idea who here would go for one.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-29 19:56 ]

What a fabulous thread!!! You have such a wonderful way with words and skill at bringing an excitement to history. Those pictures are so neat...especially the car.

I envy you in your rich heritage. I am adopted and have no knowledge or desire to know of my heritage (don't ask me why...just feels right to me). However, I will be thrilled when I finally inheret the stately Castle and vast property of my lineage. :lol:

Hope you will share more stories and pictures. :)

What! You're not gonna buy a pipe !!? :wink:
No seriously, thank you, Vamp....I just know how to make things LOOK good...did it with Tiki culture, so it should work with Kirsten culture, too. :)

Of course I will buy a frikken pipe...afterall I am a shopaholic (probably an affliction buried deep in my secret family genes)!!! :D

Hey Sven, woooow! I think "Kirsten" is a realy big empire!
I want to have one of those pipes. I have almost stop to smoke cigarettes. :)
These days it´s not more possible to smoke in german restaurants or bars,
but to enjoy a original Kirsten pipe after work, at the bench in front of the house, with a cool beer and watching the Alps would be the Paradise.
Perhaps I could arrange with Jochen the first Kirsten smokers club in Germany.:)

Have a great weekend, Kai

Just found this amazing ad:

"Dildo Cay"? What a title for a movie! Well, even in 1941 Paramount must have thought the same, because a quick search on imdb.com yielded no result. Digging a little deeper though, I found this, the only film Sterling Hayden made that year:

"Bahama Passage" is a leisurely bit of Technicolor exotica starring Madeleine Carroll and her future husband Sterling Hayden. Based on Nolson Hayes' novel DILDO CAY,

the story takes place on a remote Bahaman island where the principal commodity-in fact, the only--is salt. The owner of the island is young Adrian (Sterling Hayden), who inherited Dildo Cay from his family..... The most striking aspect of Bahama Passage is the extremely casual clothing worn by the stars: Why, one would think that Paramount was trying to get the audience's mind off the film's slower passages by showing off as much cheesecake and beefcake as possible. ~
Once Bahama Passage was in the cans, Actor Hayden enlisted in the Armed Forces.

Unfortunately, none of the stills I can find of the film have him smoking a Kirsten Pipe. :( It probably was too "high tech" for the setting, and he is just posing with it for the ad.

The film seems to have had a lot in common with Sterling Hayden's life:

"Born March 26, 1916, in Montclair, NJ, he quit school at the age of 16 to become a mate on a schooner, beginning a lifelong love affair with the sea; indeed, it was often suggested that he was never particularly enamored of the acting life, instead preferring to sail. By age 22, Hayden was a ship's captain, but a desire to buy his own boat prompted him to begin modeling, and in 1940 he landed a movie contract at Paramount. With no previous acting experience, he starred in 1941's Virginia, followed a year later by Bahama Passage. The pictures' successes made him a star, and he also grabbed headlines by marrying actress Madeleine Carroll."

Also:
"Sterling Hayden was a dory fisherman in the Grand Banks as a teenager; captained a two masted brig from Boston to Tahiti at age 22; he then became one of the youngest Master Mariners at age 24; sailed around the world twice; sailed to Tahiti several times..."

Sounds like HE was the original "Captain Adam Troy" from "Adventures in Paradise"!

When "Bahama Passage" was released in France in 1946, it's title was "Sous le ciel de Polynésie" (!)
Also interesting:

"Hayden's career flagged during the years to follow, however. Saddled with a series of lackluster films, he finally left acting in 1958 to return to the sea, and spent the next six years away from Hollywood. In 1963, he even published an autobiography, "Wanderer", detailing his ocean adventures as well as his regret for cooperating with the House Un-American Activities Commission during the McCarthy era."

One last note: Dorothy Dandridge played the island native Thalia in the film.

As a little footnote, just like I thought, there actually is no way Stirling (later Sterling) Hayden would smoke a Kirsten pipe in Dildo Cay (aka Bahama Passage), cause the photo was also used for an earlier ad mentioning the movie he did before, (his first film). And Stirling had worked as a model before, so he might have modeled for the pipe photo, than became a film star, and the Kirsten Co just used what they already had paid for. But he also had no compunction to make some extra dough with ads AFTER his film career took off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ma-0RWOrmY

That pipe, that watch...what a man! :D

Back to the nautical aspects of the Kirsten family history:

Here is a very contemplative underwater video of the MS Valeria, built in 1958, (I was 3 then). It sank in 1982 near the port of Rijeka in Croatia. It had been re-christened "El Hawi" by then, and was owned by a Saudi company. Apparently it sank because it was way overloaded with ceramic tiles !!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVPu_HSoUWA

Here is a model of the Valeria in 1958:

This baby is about 4 feet long! These elaborate models were built by the ship yard company for display in the ship owner's office. Here is a beautiful example of the first Valeria from 1937 ( a steamship still):

The detail and craftsmanship on these is amazing, most of them ended up in maritime museums. Wouldn't mind having a family one in my Tiki lounge! :) The plaque talks about the Kirsten Line being called the "Shakespeare Fleet" because of the names...

Also wish I had a fitting Captain's cap:

Or a set of this tableware:

Sigh, collectibles...

Almost forgot this matchbook:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-12-22 19:19 ]

Hi Cousin Sven,

I'm a Great Granddaughter of your ancestor that went to Fiji and then settled in Australia. Your sister Jessica has been on to me again to update the Australian section of the Family Tree so whilst searching out a thing or two, I came across this great forum. It has made for some fascinating reading. Thanks muchly. I just loved your book too.

Aloha from Australia,
Tissy

Wow, it's amazing to hear that I have distant relatives from a South Seas captain, now living in Australia! I love the internet.

Now folks, behold what I just won on e-bay. This would be a cool item on its own for anyone who is:

1.) ...a Kirsten Pipe collector
2.) ...a Tiki shirt collector
3.) ...working on a book about Tiki shirts
4.) ...named "Kirsten"

But to have ALL these elements come together made this a once-of-a-lifetime offering for me...

Let's view the main feature:

This would be a pretty cool shirt for me to have, yeah..
But now, lets turn it around:

What the...! :o Did somebody make this up !?

This is as if history retro-actively conspired on me to blow my mind :). I mean what are the chances...
Even though this baby is way too small in size for me to wear, it is such a classic artifact (as an example of a period and style) that it seems like a cliche, like a pink Cadillac, or a Diner neon sign. I owned this the minute it was put up!
I love when things come full circle like this!

Now I just have to change my name to "Ed".

UNREAL!!!!!!!
Holy Smokes, Great find "Ed"

Magnifico! Tiki synchronicity, destiny, miracle, serendipity... Weird and cool! What are the odds?!

Sven,

That is amazing. The perfect storm! Congrats on that score!

When is that damn shirt book coming out?

DC

That shirt is innnnncredible! I've never seen anything like it. Never.

Okay, first off, I'm also a pipe smoker and collector. I collect everything - briar, unusual corncobs, lots and lots of meerschaum...and Kirstens. In my entire collection of 60+ pipes, there are only five that I smoke. Three of these are Kirstens. Things they have going for them (no, I swear I'm not a Kirsten rep, I just love 'em a whole lot)
-- Easy to clean. Whole pipe comes apart. Use the ramrod to force a wad of tissue down the bore, empty out the gunk well at the end, occasionally put a pipe cleaner through the mouthpiece, and it's good.
-- No gurgle. No gunk. The stem radiates minute amounts of heat from the smoke, condensing it, and the tarry liquid portion ends up trapped in the radiator stem. If you don't have time to clean it after a smoke, a twist of the valve that is the gunk trap at the hell will lock the liquid in the stem, so it can't leak into the bowl or into your pocket.
-- I find that they stay lit almost ridiculously well. Don't pack these bowls in stages like you would a regular pipe; fill the bowl to overflowing, tamp gently, check the draw, then do the usual char light-tamp-relight and you should be set.
-- Bowls unscrew, so you can swap out bowls to switch between, say, aromatic and English, or to give the pipe a new look. And with looks...
Straight, quarter bent or full bent radiators. Three sizes (two on full bent). Radiators come in silver, brass or black. Mouthpieces come in black, gray marbled or brown marbled. Bowls come in about six or so shapes, in three or four sizes, in countless finishes: various shades of smooth, brown or black sandblast, part-sandblast, carved, etc. You can really mix-and-match your ideal look. I prefer the full-bents with an optional 'pedestal' valve that lets them balance upright on a table, waiting to be picked up - very elegant, esp. as a black pipe with one of their meerschaum bowls. They have new Turkish meerschaum bowls (about $100) and a few vintage 1960s bowls carved by various employees, which are (I'll warn you) not waxed, so they won't color as quickly as a waxed meer, but they WILL color. These are $30, and get 'em while they last - I guess an employee found a stash of 'em in the factory.

The shops: One is very new and has no real specific decor. The other (at Fishermens' Terminal in Ballard) is the old shop, and it has a bare-bones, subdued nautical theme, with some old maps framed and a few bells and ships' clocks and nautical gifty stuff. This is where you want to go if you're buying a Kirsten; it's fun to look through the doorway into the back and see eggcrates full of hundreds of briar bowls, which are turned on a lathe by machine and then hand-finished. This shop will also have the big basket of $10 'seconds' bowls to dig through, most of the stock of old meerschaum bowls, and if the guy working is an older man with white hair, asking him may help you get a few vintage bowls to choose from, like the old 'staghorn' carved bowls, depending on what's poking around (the vintage meer bowls are 'staghorn' carvings, too). They'll help you assemble your ideal pipe.

My Kirstens: I have a black Esquire (small full-bent) with a gray mouthpiece, a vintage silver Designer (large full-bent) with a massive Danish-style plateau freehand bowl - about 100 of these bowls were made as custom one-offs in the 70s - and a brown mouthpiece; a silver Horizon (small quarter bent) again with brown, and a 1930s or 40s 1st gen. Kirsten straight, which I don't smoke, as well as a whole bunch of bowls, and I built a display for 'em, which I'll photograph if anyone is interested.

My display has room for (in addition to the four pipes) ten bowls on the main shelf, three more below (that are filled with vintage bowls including the Missouri Meerschaum corncob bowls that were made only in 1969) and six more off the side, for a total of 19. Five spots are left. If someone here wanted to carve some tiki themed bowls, I want one - very, very much. My advice would be to contact (or even visit) Kirsten's Ballard shop, tell them you want to carve some bowls for yourself, and see if they'll supply you with pre-drilled rough blanks with the tobacco chamber already finished. If no other TCers who want to look into carving bowls are in Seattle, let me know here and I'll visit the shop for you and make the inquiry in person. Remember though: briar is tough stuff, a bit harder than your average hardwood, but it can be carved. Also, if you prefer to carve very shallow relief designs onto the surface, an already-turned and "finished", smooth bowl might be what you want. The shapes are shown here:
http://www.kirstenpipe.com/page_customization.shtml
...but the details aren't shown well, so I'll elaborate. The "billiard" is out-of-production, as is the "dynasty", though some may still be available. The "billiard" is shown well. The "columbus" has a conical bottom that ends in a smooth, round bulge near the top. The "brandy" is a bulbous brandy-snifter form, a round bulge that then tapers. The "mandarin" is a brandy variant that comes out to a semi-sharp edge. And the "dynasty" is simply a mandarin with the top rim sloped inward rather than flat. The "bulldog" is a take-off on the standard briar bulldog, and also has the inward-sloped top. The brandy, mandarin/dynasty, bulldog and columbus have the thickest walls where carving could be done.

Let me know who wants to do what and I can help if you're not in Seattle. I can also buy a prospective carver a good pick out of the cheap $10 'seconds' bin in the shape of their choice (but then, you can always ask them to do it for you - if I do it, though, I won't charge anything for doing it and I'll look for something without existing carving or any severe pits or fills).

Hey Torchguy and Freakytiki. YES, I would be interested in carving some bowls. Who do you want as far as the tiki and whatnot. I've not carved pipes yet but have a few blanks sent me by FreakyTiki
Send me details and info?
Cheers,, Benzart

Hey that is great guys: After this thread being in a slumber for two years, this might actually happen! :)
Torch Guy, glad to meet another Kirsten pipe fan.

Benz-man, sign me up for one Kirsten Tiki pipe bowl, pleeeze! I would favor a Marquesan head...but then your Maori moko are real fine, too, I often behold the one I got from you.

I'd advise carving with the draw hole and tobacco chamber already bored; Kirstens are picky about how those are shaped, and the metal cap that holds in the bowl screw (and the screw itself) have to fit.

Would these be a one-sided design or a repeating pattern? Where can I see examples of your work, to figure out what I might want? And what might the price be, approximately?

Here's my Kirsten pipe display. I spotted this (1930s?) wooden wall shelf at a junk shop and immediately knew what I'd do with it. The "Kirsten" marque was trimmed from a brochure.

Noted:
1- Horizon (small quarter-bent) silver, brown mouthpiece, vintage 'staghorn' meerschaum Billiard bowl.
2- Esquire (small full-bent with pedestal) black, gray mouthpiece, extra-large Dynasty bowl.
3- Designer (large full-bent with pedestal) 1970s vintage. "Heritage" tarnished-silver, brown mouthpiece, plateau 'Danish freehand' bowl (one of approx. 100 custom one-offs). This pipe belonged to Paul Reasoner, original owner of the now-closed Southcenter Mall (Tukwila, WA) Tinder Box, and is engraved with his name.
4- Vintage 1930s-40s 1st gen. straight Kirsten (no o-rings) with 1969 Missouri Meerschaum bowl.
I smoke all but the 1st. gen. model.

5- Briar Mandarin, smooth finish.
6- Same with black sandblast outside and dark smooth top.
7- Mandarin, dark red-brown, deeply carved with sharp outer edge, vintage early 1970s.
8- Dynasty, smooth finish with rough sandblast patches. Large.
9- Columbus, smooth finish with rough black sandblast patches. Large.
10- Bulldog, smoothed sandblast with smooth ring and smooth inward-sloped top. Large.
11- Tulip (shape is no longer produced) vintage 70s, light brown smooth, inward-sloped top. Small.
12- Tulip, same vintage, darker smooth with black carved crosshatching. Large.
13- Bavarian (shape no longer produced) smooth finish, vintage 70s.
14- Billiard (shape no longer produced) black smoothed sandblast with light, smooth top.
15- Vintage 1969 Missouri Meerschaum corncob bowl, Billiard shape.
16- Very dark brown, heavily carved Billiard - original bowl from the 1st. gen. above.
17- Vintage early-60s 'staghorn' meerschaum, Columbus. Been smoked a few times, hoping to color it.
18- Same details as 17 but stippled 'staghorn', Mandarin.
A, B, C, D, E- Spots waiting for bowls.

If I get one or two tiki-themed bowls, they'll go on those holders where the meers are - I'll move the meers up top since I'm hoping to get one or two more eventually. Spot A on the main shelf is waiting for another briar I don't have, such as a Brandy, or a vintage shape like a 'Midway'. The chains on either side are from clocks hanging above. My collecting rooms aren't tiki, poly-pop or mid-mod per se (and photos probably won't end up here - don't want to put much non-tiki stuff on a tiki board) but they ARE jammed with stuff, so wall space is at a premium, hence the hooks keeping the weight chains aside so I could shoehorn this display in there. I like having everything Kirsten-related on this one compact display.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2011-03-14 17:38 ]

Well I have 2 Briar blanks and 1 meerschaum but I'm sure I can get More. Are the Kirsten bowl blanks available?? Also, I got these blanks from HodaddyHank and have not done anything with them for a year or so, but I'm getting excited now that I see there are peeps collecting them!!
My Fac Book account can be found HERE: http://www.facebook.com/benzart
Just look through my photos and you can ALSO see some of my works on my NEW Web Site http://www.benzart.net Both sites have plenty of works to view
I'm Partial to Maori but love the Hawaiian, the Marqs and just about Anything which will be detailed enough to be a smoking pipe.
Also if you have special designs I would love to recreate them for You!
My email is [email protected]/
Cheers

Are your blanks drilled as per Kirstens or are they just raw material? And, if the latter, may I ask as to the source of the meerschaum blank? Kirsten meerschaum bowls are carved in Turkey, but Turkish law prohibits the export of uncarved block meerschaum, so many "blocks" available for carving are what's called 'chip' or 'pressed' meerschaum which is meerschaum carvers' scraps, either chipped or powdered, then pressed into blocks with a binding agent; it will neither carve well nor color at all.

If your blanks of briar are just raw blocks, let me know and I'll try to pick up some Kisten blanks that are pre-drilled with the bore.

Benz! YOU're getting excited? I am positively beside myself with the prospect of holding a pipe that has a Tiki bowl AND says Kirsten on it! :D

Torch Guy, you have a passion for fire, I can tell: Collecting Tiki torches AND pipes! Crazy, man. Here is a handy guide so you know how to pick the right size of pipe! :) :

Benzart is the man for the job. He can carve a Polynesian deity into ANY material. He ain't cheap, but quality craftsmanship never is.

And that was back when Kirstens were simple - four stem sizes, but all silver with black mouthpieces; four shapes of bowl in one size and one finish. Today there are eight stems, three mouthpiece colors, and I can't even guess how many colors and decorative finishes of bowls in three or four sizes and six or so shapes.

I'm headed out-of-town until Sunday, but next Monday or Tuesday I'll go to the Kirsten store, tell them the idea and ask if I can buy some blanks which have the tobacco chamber and bottom hole already drilled. I'll be able to send you these (at whatever they cost me + my shipping costs) plus a bowl screw and the cuplike ring that fits on the bottom of the bowl and holds the bowl screw in place; the finished bowls need to have this ring fit on them.

I'm not certain I'll be able to afford some of this custom work, but at the very least I can help get him the bowls to carve.

[ Edited by: TorchGuy 2011-03-15 14:34 ]

I think this counts as one of the stranger thread on TC, from shipwrecks to pipes. I spotted these Marquesan pipes when I was image searching...

Its a pity the British Pipesmokers' Council doesn't do Pipe Smoker of the Year anymore, we could have campaigned to get Sven the honour.

I appreciate that. But I have to admit that, as it turned out, I am not really a pipe smoker. When I discovered the Kirsten pipe, I really dug the whole "Hamburg immigrant turned aeronautics engineer inventing a pipe" history, and the beauty of the object, so I thought smoking a Kirsten while sipping some rum could become a hobby. But, having never smoked all my life, I just couldn't get into the habit. Here is my only live attempt to incorporate the pipe into my public "author" persona, but I dropped the gimmick shortly after that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITQxEjcvzPA&feature=related

I take the first puff in mid-clip, and then valiantly try to keep it glowing, but I am sure the seasoned pipe smoker can see that I am a poser. :)

A Benzart-carved TIKI pipe bowl for my Kirsten though would increase its mana to such a degree that I would certainly smoke it on special occasions!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-16 08:14 ]

Aloha Benzart and Torch Guy, how is the Kirsten pipe Tiki bowl project coming along?
In hopes it is, Sven :)

In 1963, he even published an autobiography, "Wanderer", detailing his ocean adventures as well as his regret for cooperating with the House Un-American Activities Commission during the McCarthy era."

Hayden's "Wanderer" is an outstanding read (as is his novel), but his HUAC association is a minor sidetrack. It's actually an account of his pre-film sailing life and an "up-yours" escape with his children (whose Mom he didn't bother to brief about the trip), and a reflection on his disappointments with women and Hollywood. It's a glimpse into the life & mindset of an unapologetic & unrestrained male, and I can't recommend it highly enough: it's one of my all-time favorite books.

Spotted on ebay..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VTG-RARE-KIRSTEN-ALUMINIUM-TOBACCO-PIPE-CLEANER-BOX-INSTRUCTIONS-ESTATE-FIND-USA-/171555005314?pt=AU_Tobacciana_Collectables&hash=item27f179a382

I have a Kirsten pipe! I just bought it yesterday from an antique shop, and only just today discovered this Kirsten pipe thread. Coincidence or what!

Here is me and tiki with our Kirsten pipe.

I only just started entering into the world of pipe smoking 2 years ago and find it a really fun hobby. It naturally ties into my love of the mid century modern era, although the history of pipes dates back a couple thousand years. I love the marriage of tiki and pipe smoking, especially if I can include carved tiki pipes into my collection! So YES, Sven, I'm all in if Kirsten or even any other pipe maker could start creating tiki pipe designs. And thank you Sven for your fantastic research and inspiration.