Nordh: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Bo Nordh2.jpg|left]]

It is a beautiful winter day, the coldest day so far this winter. I am sitting in the cosy warmth of my car, the pipe is lit and I am full of expectations. I am on my way towards Landskrona and I am attentively looking for a sign stating "Hällstorp". It suddenly appears. I turn into a small gravel road and stop in front of a half-timbered farmhouse half a kilometre further up the road. The buildings occupy three sides and the fourth is a wall. In that way you get a built-in outside yard, a common way of building on the windy plains of Skåne, the very southern part of Sweden.

'''THE MAKING OF THE FIRST PIPE'''

Bo started to smoke when he was 15 years of age. He was not much of a connoisseur then, but who is at that age? He smoked "Dollar-pipes" and cheap tobacco. However, in the beginning of the 70's he became interested in what he filled his pipe with and to a certain extent what the pipe looked like. The Danish magazine STOP was just introduced and Bo read with interest about various types of tobacco and nice pipes. He started to try different mixtures which he bought from PIP-LARSSON, a famous shop in Malmö.

'''THE FIRST BO NORDH PIPES SOLD'''

The owner of PIP-LARSSON was Olle Jonsson. He became curious about the amount of blocks bought by Bo and one day he asked what he used them for. "Making pipes of course", answered Bo. "Bring them here so I can have a look at them," retorted Olle Jonsson who himself repaired a lot of pipes and thus had some knowledge on the subject.

'''BO NORDH MEETS [[SIXTEN IVARSSON]]'''

[[Sixten Ivarsson]] lives in Copenhagen. He is the man who most likely has been more influential than anyone else when it comes to making pipes in Denmark and Sweden.

'''BO NORDH'S PIPES REACH JAPAN'''

Sixten Ivarsson's workshop is conveniently situated next to Ströget in Copenhagen. Here there was (and is) a steady trickle of all sorts of pipe enthusiasts from interested tourists to buyers from all over the world. Sixten Ivarsson has never been able to meet the demand for his pipes so he had to have a rationing system for the buyers. One day a Japanese saw Bo's pipes, became enthusiastc and bought them all. Not long after he contacted Bo and wanted to buy more.

'''HIS FIRST WORKSHOP'''

Bo bought the machines he needed and started to build up his own workshop in Landskrona. His training as a mechanical engineer was very useful when it came to adapting the machines to his requirements. When the workshop in Landskrona was ready he never looked back. Bo has never had any problems selling his pipes. Rather the opposite as the buyers have been knocking on his door to buy.

'''FIFTY PIPES A YEAR'''

Bo's production has never been large - about fifty pipes a year and today more likely thirty than fifty. I asked a bit surprised if he did not make more in the beginning. It must be tempting when you are new in the business and the buyers just want more and more pipes. Bo, however, denies this and the explanation is of course his attitude to quality, which is free from compromise, a second nature to Bo. He would never dream of selling a pipe which he is not entirely happy with however insistent the buyers are.

'''NO TRENDS'''

A Bo Nordh pipe is usually a combination of briar and ebonite. Trends like inlay of various types of wood in the stem or the shank has never appealed to Bo. Neither does he make the stems in acrylic, man-made amber or any of the other materials, which are so popular these days.

'''THE MATERIAL IS TREATED WITH CARE AND RESPECT'''

Bo has an enormous stock of raw materials considering his small output. He has a couple of large tin boxes full of horn, cut into suitable pieces and waxed to prevent cracking. Another box is filled with bamboo, so beautiful that I have never seen anything like it. On the shelves there is boxwood which comes from a very old tree. It has been here for twenty years.

'''HOW TO STORE BRIAR BLOCKS'''

When Bo receives a new shipment of briar he first roughly grinds all blocks on the smooth side. The knotty side is brushed with a steel brush. Bad blocks are thrown out, the rest are stored in one of the neighbour's cellar to ensure that all water evaporates slowly. They are then moved to Bo's cold storage and in the autumn, when the temperature is about the same outside and inside, they are moved into the workshop. "You have to sneak them into room-temperature," as Bo expresses it. He then grinds them finely and classifies them after which they stay in storage for at least 3-5 years. Many, as I said, stay there considerably longer.