Enrique (David Enrique)

Enrique is the handmade pipe brand signed with his own name by French maker David Enrique. The brand is the product of a one-man workshop that operated in the Jura region between 2007 and 2017, and is counted among the examples of the independent pipemaking that saw a revival in France in the 2000s. Its founder was born in 1980 and comes from Strasbourg; he trained in computer science and worked in information technology until 2005.

The Career Change

Enrique's acquaintance with pipemaking took shape in the mid-2000s around French pipe forums; his first attempt was made using a ready-made kit sold by mail order. His interest in wood carving quickly turned into a career change, and through Alain Letulier, president of the French Pipe Club, he got the chance to see the Saint-Claude workshops up close. Following these visits he left his job, moved to the Jura, and spent two years working at the Chapuis-Comoy group, to which the Chacom brand also belongs. His years at the factory both taught him production discipline and allowed him to accumulate the equipment and tools needed for his own workshop.

He chose to complete his mastery training abroad. In the spring of 2006 he spent a week at the workshop of Italian maker Marco Biagini, who makes Moretti pipes, learning freehand shaping techniques, and in early 2007 he worked for a few days alongside German maker Heiner Nonnenbroich, gaining experience in design and craftsmanship. Trever Talbert, owner of the France-based Talbert Pipes workshop, and pipe writer Erwin Van Hove are also named among those who guided him during this period.

Workshop and Series

Enrique left his factory job in early 2007 and opened his own workshop. He deliberately kept production small, aiming, according to the record, to limit his annual output to 120-150 pipes. The brand's naming is built around a few series distinguished by their degree of craftsmanship:

• DE: An entry-level series worked from pre-turned blocks or from bodies hand-shaped and then separated.

• Accord: Pipes shaped entirely by hand from start to finish.

• Harmonie: A top-tier series introduced in March 2009, reserved for the finest pieces.

• Morta: A line launched in the same period, made with bog oak (morta) darkened by centuries in wetland.

• Alliance: Introduced in December 2010, a collaboration carried out jointly with Pierre Morel.

For material he used long-rested briar sourced from Spain and Italy along with German-made ebonite and Cumberland rod. The care he put into opening a wide, smooth airway is counted among the workshop's well-known distinguishing traits.

Afterward

Enrique's work was followed outside France as well by the late 2000s, and he was taken up in the international pipe press as one of the names representing the renewal of the French handmade pipe scene. According to the record, the master stopped pipemaking in 2017. Given the short production period and the low annual numbers, his signed examples remain limited in number among contemporary French workshop pipes.