Ed Burak (Connoisseur)

Ed Burak is an American pipe designer who ran the Connoisseur Pipe Shop in New York for forty years. He generally did not carve his pipes with his own hands, instead having the shapes he drew executed by carvers he trusted; for this reason he is remembered in the community more as a designer than a maker.

From the Meerschaum Bench to the Design Table

Edward F. Burak was born in 1943 in the Bronx, New York; his first pursuit was not pipes but painting. A meerschaum pipe in need of repair led him in 1966 to the New York workshop of Austrian-born meerschaum carver Paul Fischer. Records indicate he stayed there for five years as an apprentice. The number of meerschaum pipes to come from his own hand in this period is small; a few are known to survive in collections. He is also reported to have designed for the Wally Frank brand in the same years. His purchase of the Connoisseur Pipe Shop in 1968 marked the start of building his own line.