He will be missed

Reiner Barbi, Germany's best-known carver generally recognized as one of the foremost stem makers in the world has passed away. Suddenly... He was also regarded as one of the most versatile shape creators. From semi-traditional to avant-garde.

Barbi's fame is partly due to approachability, both of the pipes and the person - his communicative nature and the very reasonable prices of his entry-level pieces ensure an ever-growing following.

Along with Cornelius Mãnz, Rainer is a favorite among German smokers. Despite huge diversity of design, he maintained a coherent style - more so than many carvers with a much smaller shape repertoire.

A bit made by Barbi must be felt to be believed. It surpasses anything produced elsewhere. His pipes include horn or Cumberland bits and silver mountings. Since "Barbis" are often very light and always supremely balanced, the overall effect is one of total smoking ease.

He will be missed....

Below is a short

For 25 years the master has created and finished objects of the pipe maker’s art, year by year seeking to create works of the most supreme elegance, which in support of the elements of classic harmony combine filigree delicacy with perfection of line. As a champion of a timeless, simple elegance, Rainer Barbi produces without ornamentation or add-ons the creations. With a dreamlike sureness the master recognises the sensitive individuality in each and every briar block, and applies his natural discovering in timeless, tension-filled art. These precious items are distinguished not only by a striking poise, but by their perfection of finish. The working of the surface of the wood and the mouthpiece command the immediate attention of every connoisseur and the formation of the bite of his mouthpieces awake in the users of his creations a feeling of well-being at the first contact. He also attains the ultimate in bringing out the inner life of his pieces, of the finest handwork, which no machine could approach. This perfection, love for detail and unmistakable personal style are the basic secrets of his success.

Rainer Barbi was born on 26th June 1948 in Hannover, and lives and works in Worth, a picturesque village in Northern Germany. After gaining his school leaving certificate from a liberal arts school in Hamburg, Rainer Barbi nurtured his love of pipes during a study visit in Jura. Beginning as simply a pipe smoker, Rainer Barbi began to design his own creations, and taught himself to express his faculties of handicraft and creativity. His humanistic studies had endowed him with a critical spirit, and through his own response to that art which reduces the classic lines with their transparent beauty to the essentials, his demands on the creations which he himself fashioned continued to grow.

In this way his path towards perfectionism and the aesthetics of the modern classicist in the world of the pipe was a logical outgrowth of his own striving towards the absolute. Only to the greatest embodiments of the creative spirit is it given, through the search for purity and focus on the essential, to attain timelessness. Thus are the works of Rainer Barbi sought after internationally, and highly prized as works of unsurpassed beauty.