Design Berlin Captain Straight 9mm Briar Pipe DBP050

• Overall Length: 135mm
• Overall Height: 50mm
• Bowl Height: 50mm
• Bowl Diameter: 36mm
• Bore: 19mm
• Weight: 48g
• Filter: 9mm

Design Berlin's roots go back to 1948, when Hubert Hartmann established his pipe business in post-war Berlin. Lothar Schirwitz joined in 1954 and was instrumental in moving production towards better-quality pipes influenced by contemporary Danish design. The DB – Design Berlin name was adopted around 1975.

There is a particularly strong connection with Germany's old pipe-making centre in Thuringia. After reunification, Design Berlin acquired the former pipe works at Bad Liebenstein and moved series production to Schweina, continuing a local manufacturing tradition stretching well back into the nineteenth century.

The modern Captain series retains several things one would immediately associate with that heritage: briar, acrylic, 9mm filtration and practical German engineering. The DBP050 then dresses the lot in the sort of polished metalwork that looks as though someone expected it to survive a voyage across the North Sea.

A particularly handsome Design Berlin, and one of the more distinctive straight Billiards we've had across the counter. The Design Berlin Captain DBP050 is a handsome old-fashioned sort of pipe, albeit with rather more metalwork around the middle than your average Billiard. It takes the familiar straight pipe shape and gives it a distinctly German treatment: substantial briar, a 9mm filter and a beautifully engineered metal-mounted connection between bowl and mouthpiece.

The bowl is a tall Straight Billiard, finished in a deep reddish-brown stain and polished to bring the grain through strongly. This particular example has some excellent character in the briar. Along the shank there are tightly packed lines of grain, while the bowl shows darker, more irregular figuring beneath the rich red-brown finish. The reverse photograph is especially attractive, with long streaks of grain running vertically up the bowl.

Its proportions give the DBP050 a pleasingly sturdy appearance. The tall bowl carries plenty of visual weight, while the straight shank keeps everything traditional and well balanced. There is nothing spindly about it.

Then we arrive at the Captain mounting system, which is really what makes the pipe.

A broad polished metal fitting covers the end of the briar shank, while a second cylindrical metal fitting is attached to the black acrylic mouthpiece. Joined together, the two form a stepped metal section between briar and stem. Apart, it is essentially an Army-style connection, allowing the mouthpiece to fit directly into the mounted shank rather than relying upon the appearance of a conventional flush briar-to-acrylic joint.

The contrast works beautifully: warm red briar, bright polished metal and glossy black acrylic. A small gold DB emblem set into the mouthpiece finishes things neatly.

It is also a 9mm filter pipe, very much in keeping with Design Berlin's German heritage. The 9mm system became an increasingly important part of the company's pipes during the development of the DB brand and remains one of its characteristic features.