Directory of Argentine Pipe Brands

The Directory of Argentine Pipe Brands brings together, in alphabetical order, pipe names founded in Argentina or run by Argentine makers. All four names entered in the records are the scale of a single craftsman's bench, not a factory. Material preference is the distinguishing line of this directory: on one side briar brought in from Spain, on the other, woods from the forests of Patagonia and non-briar materials such as deer antler, sit side by side. The entries below summarize only recorded facts; documented data on founding year, output, and stamp forms is lacking for most of these brands.

Brands

• Bambi Pipes — the maker behind this brand is Gustavo Miguel González. His bench does not work wood but antler: pipes are cut from the antler of the Patagonian deer (Ciervo Patagónico), and the brand name refers to this choice. The workshop's founding year, number of staff, and annual output do not appear in the records.

• Herrería — a workshop run under his own surname by Ezequiel Herrería, born in Rauch in Buenos Aires province. The chronology on record runs as follows: he first encountered pipes around 2005, through an old pipe given to him as a gift; in 2007 his curiosity about making one led him to online making videos; his first attempts began with a piece of wood obtained from a carpenter, and he followed the work of various makers over two years. The name most often mentioned among these is the Austrian craftsman Ludwig Lorenz, whose skill with wood hand tools Herrería took as a model. The first batch of briar brought in from Spain in June 2008 moved the work from trial to production; the first pipes offered for sale date from 2009 and carry hand-cut acrylic stems.

• Pipas Piombo — the name at the geographic extreme of this directory: Pablo A. Piombo works in Ushuaia, considered the southernmost city in the world. The catalog is gathered under two lines, PATAGONIA and GRAFFITO. Bowls use the country's own woods rather than briar; Patagonia's lenga tree and coihue, which grows in the Andean belt, are the two main species. Two options are documented for the stem: carandaí wood from the Iguazú area, and the antler of the red deer that lives on the pampas. Both parts are shaped by hand.

• Schneider — carries the name of Bernardo Schneider, an Argentine of Austrian descent; the only age recorded is that the maker was seventy-four in 2002. According to family lore, one of his distant ancestors was responsible for the upkeep of Emperor Franz Joseph's pipes; this account has not been confirmed by an independent document. Most of his output consists of pipes with a rustic finish, with some using an antler stem.