Vollmer & Nilsson: Difference between revisions

Well, it was not exactly like that when Vollmer & Nilsson started making pipes, but it is true that big brother Anders bought a “real briar” as a schoolboy, and certainly Martin, his younger brother, was watching everything he was doing. But at that time, the two brothers had no plans to make their own pipes. Having finished his studies Anders started to work in a laboratory, and Martin went to the university to study theology.

 

The interest to make pipes was awaken for the two brothers Anders Nilsson and Martin Vollmer at a visit to Copenhagen. There they found a book, Pibemagerens Håndbog (The Pipemaker’s Handbook), written by the Danish pipemaker Bjørn Thurmann. This book tells how to make a pipe from a pre-drilled block, and Anders and Martin immediately started at the kitchen table at home. In that way they learned the basics. But they soon realised that to make real good pipes, they had to make them right from the beginning - drill the blocks themselves and make the stems from a rod of ebonite. So they had to find out how to do this, and as both Anders and Martin likes to experiment and to find functional methods to solve all types of problems, there was a lot of experimentation. But, the kitchen table is a good place for many things, but it can not house too many lathes and other big machines.

'''Good examples'''

'''Three years of learning'''

 

It was a great surprise to me when I got a mail, in which Anders Nilsson and Martin Vollmer invited me to visit their new workshop for pipes. A new pipemaker in our country is extremely unusual, so to say that I was surprised may be an understatement. And the mail told me that they had been making pipes for three years! Maybe I had taken it for a joke, if they had not sent some pictures of their pipes. I was indeed impressed by the pipes in those pictures.

'''Sandblasting and silverwork'''

 

Of course I immediately accepted the invitation, and together with the pipemaker Bengt Carlson I visited the two brothers in Malmö in September 2004. When Anders and Martin showed us into their workshop, it was easy to see how proud they were of it. And they had reasons to be proud. The workshop is well-organized and comfortable, and the machinery tells a lot about their ingenuity. Making pipes is something they really like, you can not be mistaken there.

 

Vollmer & Nilsson is a long name, and long names are hard to stamp with a traditional stamp. When I saw how sharp and clear the stamps were, I thought they had special equipment for that. But it is not so, they use an ordinary, conventional stamp, but - as with so much else - they have found some tricks to help them to a good result. I can not tell exactly how they do it, but on some forms of the shank they use the stationary drilling machine, on other forms the lathe to get enough pressure. Anyway, the result is excellent but they admit that it is a nervous task to stamp a pipe.

Two pipemakers working together like this is unusual, very unusual. There is only one example I am aware of, and that is the Bang workshop. If you buy a Bang pipe you do not know who made it, Per Hansen or Ulf Noltesmeier, and it is exactly the same with a pipe stamped Vollmer & Nilsson. In some cases it may even be both of them.

As you can see from the pictures, both Anders and Martin are very fond of the classical shapes, and some of their pipes are directly classical, others some variations on that theme. They like to be inspired by pictures showing old pipes, preferably pipes made in the beginning of the last century. Most of the “ebauchons” are bought from Tom Eltang, but as he at the moment has difficulties to find enough briar to sell to other pipemakers, they at our visit had some briar on its way from Italy.  

I wish Anders and Martin all the best for the future, and I feel sure there will be opportunities to write more about them later on.