While the name Svend Hangaard may not be familiar to many in the pipe industry as of yet, his work is definitely attention grabbing in every sense of the phrase. He is destined for stardom and is drawing comparisons to the elite in Denmark-his home country.  At the age of 65, Svend has smoked a pipe since he was 14. He honed his woodworking skills over the years as an adept craftsman in the art of cabinet making. In 1984, then prison warden Hangaard transferred his abilities to pipemaking with the kind of proficiency that you would expect from a natural in the craft.  The idea to carve came in 1984 when Svend wanted to find a creative hobby that prisoners could use to occupy their time and decided upon pipe carving. Svend purchased briar ebauchons from the Svendborg pipe factory, which at the time consisted of Henrik Jorgensen, Poul Ilsted, and Tao. That was when the pipe carving bug struck. Over time, Svend refined his incipient skills into an artform. Since then, it has been Hangaard's dream to carve pipes professionally. So, when in 2007 when Hangaard retired from working in the prison system, the opportunity arose. In April 2009 Svend met with the brilliant Portuguese pipe carver Joao Reis to learn  all the proper techniques for carving specialized briar instruments. From there, it was only a short matter of time before he achieved the kind of technical mastery necessary for creating artistic and functional high end smoking pipes. Kai Nielsen and Karsten Tarp have also been instrumental figures in Hangaard's evolution as a pipe carver. His output is very limited and exhibits the kind of workmanship and attention to detail one comes to expect from the Danes. The sky is the limit for Hangaard. Svend is destined to reach the top of the pipe carving ranks in the same way that he has succeeded in every other endeavor-through talent, hard work, and ceaseless determination.

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