Gurra

Gurra is the brand under which Swedish pipe maker Lars-Göran Markunger (b. 1960) signs his pipes. Markunger, who lives in Halmstad, works his day job at a glass factory; according to accounts he turned to pipe making in the mid-2000s out of a curiosity for combining different materials.

He was not a pipe smoker at the time; taking up the pipe himself came only after he began making them. The brand has earned a small but recognized place in the Swedish pipe scene through its extremely limited output and unusual material combinations.

Origin of the Name and Stamping

In Swedish, "Gurra" is a common shortening of the name Lars-Göran, and the maker has gone by it since his youth. The fact that his full name would not fit on a stamp was decisive in marking the brand with the short nickname. The suggestion came from Per Billhäll, who introduced the pipes to collector circles. Markunger works with an engraving tool rather than a steel stamp. The grading system is based on a deck of playing cards: a sequence rising from "10" to "Ace" is used, with the "Queen" marking the middle grade. In recorded examples, the stamp consists of the brand name, the country name, and the grade mark.