Suhr Workshop Pipes 1955-1959

Poul Rasmussen purchased the Suhr Pipe Workshop from Sixten Ivarrson in 1955. As he knew very little about making pipes, Sixten provided him with two months of instruction prior to the final transfer. Shortly after the sale, Poul hired Sven Knudsen, Teddy's older brother, as his assistant, and put him to work repairing pipes. One day when Poul was out (a not infrequent event, as he was a very sociable "man about town," and involved in many businesses besides pipes), Sven decided to make a pipe, and left it on the bench. When Poul returned, he was very pleased, and was reported to have said, "Oh good, now I don't have to make all the pipes!" Sven remained at Suhr from 1955 through 1959. We do not know how many of the pipes marked as Suhr were made by Sven during this interval, and how many by Poul himself. But we do know about these pipes, as they came from Sven's personal collection. The first three were actually made by Poul; the last three were made by Sven. Any of them could have been sold in the shop, but in fact Sven kept them and smoked them himself, and he has been the sole owner--until now.