Pfeifenbox

Back...

The affordable Dane

There's something heroic about Karl Erik Ottendahl. One of the last 'affordable' Danish artisans left, he's planning to make 2500 pipes next year, the bulk of them for sale in Germany and the US. That's no mean output, considering the largely hand-made nature of these pieces. Even though Karl Erik admits to using machines for various tasks, he insists that a copy fraize is not involved. Sounds good, but a new question has arisen: When is a Karl Erik a Karl Erik?

Not when it's a recent one and for sale in Germany, unfortunately. Some time ago, Ottendahl transferred the German rights to his first and middle name to Pfeifenstudio Hartmann, better known as the proprietor of the 'design berlin' brand (db). The current products may resemble the old Karl Eriks in style, but they're about as Danish as sauerkraut.

Everywhere else, a Karl Erik remains a pipe made by Ottendahl himself. But this is where the confusion sets in: To continue distributing his own pieces on db territory, K.E. took to stamping some with his new, additional brand name 'Ottendahl'. This label is strictly for Germany, as he told Pfeifenbox, but he must have forgotten that his Viking forefathers discovered how to cross the Atlantic well before Lindbergh did. It was only a matter of time before Ottendahls turned up in the U.S. - to the delight of wishful thinkers, it appears. Current wisdom in some corners has it that Ottendahls are the aristocrats of the Karl Erik range, a touch more refined than your run-of-the-mill K.E. (which, after all, was always more of a bargain than a bankrupter).

If you have an Ottendahl, don't fret. It's as good as a Karl Erik - just no better or different. Rumours and myths are fun, as Rainer Barbi likes to point out (before demolishing them), and in the pipe world a good half of what is held true usually turns out to be exquisite baloney. That also goes for the notion that mid-graders make less money than their high-grade peers. In fact, many of the affordable, prolific makers are far better off than Olympic, but low-output perfectionists. Asked why nobody in Denmark seems keen on continuing the middle-tier tradition he embodies, Karl Erik answers that perhaps "nobody is dumb enough". But we may safely take that as polite self-deprecation by a successful man who is doing what he enjoys.

http://www.karlerikpipes.dk

(November 30, 2003)

Back...