Reiner PIPE ART DESIGN

Reiner PIPE ART DESIGN is a German pipe brand spread across two production periods that share the same name but are quite different from one another. It takes its name from its founder, Reiner Klein; after the brand changed hands in 1988, it continued under the roof of the Rüdiger Lutz Will workshop in Bünde. For this reason, when assessing a "Reiner"-stamped pipe, one must first work out which period it belongs to.

The Reiner Klein Period

Klein worked in Bremen as a professional designer and came to the pipe as a smoker in 1979. He founded his own workshop in 1984; it is reported that during his preparation he learned the basics of the trade from fellow Bremen maker Karlheinz Joura.

Klein's work carries a distinct signature. Bodies were mostly stained in an orange-leaning tone, then saturated with wood oil and waxed; this finish brings out the grain of the briar beneath a warm color. He worked without breaking classic shapes, but pushed them: a keel-shaped ridge running from beneath a round bowl through the shank and into the stem, faceted bowls, and a square-section shank added to a round body are typical marks of this period. Stems favored marbled Cumberland or ebonite, with thin grooves cut sideways at the tenon end; stem materials gave little room to acrylic. These pipes were not drilled for filter use.

Stamping was simple: the word "reiner" in handwriting on the shank, along with an inscription stating the pipe was handmade. According to sources, pieces Klein made entirely alone carry the inscription "Reiner-Handarbeit"; the stamps "Reiner Pipe Art Design" and "Reiner Design" point to later production. Quality grading descended from A to C, and the entire output of the period was smooth-finished; no sandblasted or rusticated example is known.

The Brand Moves to Bünde

Klein's design approach did not fit a commercial scale, and the business came close to closing in 1988. The brand, along with its workshop equipment, design rights, and customer records, was sold to Rüdiger Lutz Will, who came from a family in Bünde's tobacco industry; records place the transfer in the fall of 1988, though some accounts give 1989. According to reports, Klein later moved to Bünde for a time and worked freelance for Will's studio; the two names' paths parted entirely by the late 1990s.

Under Will, the name "Reiner" was not limited to pipes alone. From 1990 the firm, in partnership with Kohlhase & Kopp, put tobacco blends of the same name on the market, and in 1997 it founded the Solani brand. On the pipe side, a series of standard shapes was pursued alongside a line aimed at international retailers; part of the individual pieces was commissioned from a Danish maker, part produced in-house. Today handmade production under the "Reiner" stamp is very limited, and the brand is better known for its tobacco side. Collector interest, meanwhile, concentrates chiefly on the early pieces signed by Klein; this pipe is considered to sit between a freehand sensibility and classic German craftsmanship.