Kittner

Kittner is the German handmade pipe brand under which Bremen master Günter Kittner (b. 1927) signed his own name. Kittner is counted among the first to produce freehand pipes — meaning pipes individually shaped by hand — in postwar Germany. His bench never grew into a factory; his total output stayed limited to a few hundred pieces, and most of the pipes passed into collectors' hands within Germany.

Founding the Bench

Kittner's acquaintance with the pipe reaches back to his youth; according to accounts, he received a pipe from his father at age sixteen and lost it during the war years. The same account has it that he carved his own first pipe himself from a piece of wood that came his way while a prisoner of war. After the war he worked as a precision mechanic; this trade brought with it the measuring discipline and tool-handling habits he would need in later years.

The bench opened first with repair work. The knowledge of form and bowl proportions he gained while working on other people's pipes resulted, in the late 1960s, in his beginning to produce his own pieces. Kittner never turned the work into his sole livelihood; his economic independence let him work only with blocks he liked, free of commercial pressure.