Crafting Hand-Made Danish Pipes
in the USA

Eber - Great Dane Pipes is a small, family-owned pipe-making shop located in the USA.

Keith 'Dag' Eber has been making hand-made Danish Freehand pipes for more than 25 years. Born in New York to a Danish and Norwegian family of seafarers and wood-workers, his pipe designs reflect his strong Danish heritage. He's also a Good old USA boy!

Eber has deep roots to Scandinavian woodcraft and is teaching his son Luke the trade. When Dag was young, he never imagined he would be a pipe maker because he pursued athletics and playing elaborate pranks but he had always loved the aroma of his grandfather's and uncle's pipe smoke and; as a naturally gifted artist, had great curiosity about the pipes and how they were made. So, when he was out of school and working hard for a living, he purchased his own pipes and not long after he said to himself that he would learn how to make pipes and put his talent to work engineering them.

Admiring the tobacco smoking pipes his grandfather smoked and collected, Eber began making Freehand Danish pipes with humble beginnings; choosing to keep the pipes he made rather than sell them, and working out of a garage. This, of course, is no way to make a living, he said and so he acquired a decent workshop and some proper machinery and began to sell them under his Great Dane company name through ThePipeRoom during the late 1990’s. Today, the Eber Danish freehand pipes still have the Great Dane designation on certain lines.

Trying times however had Dag take odd labor jobs over the years since, including carpentry, asphalt sealing, gardening and janitorial work; all of which he believes made him humble enough to appreciate the gift from our Creator to be able to make pipes and to be able to do it full time instead of part time and without interruption.

"Nothing comes easy in life, and if it does, it's not appreciated or recognized for what it is", he said.

Today, Eber and Great Dane pipes are sold online direct. Pipes are made in small batches or made to order -- all hand-made by Dag.

Once asked what makes a pipe Danish; is it where you live or what you make? Eber replied,

“Who you are -- you have to be Danish. It’s like the Vikings, they went looking for farmland to survive and were often met with hostility so they fought back and in some cases settled in some land such as Ireland and parts of Russia, Iceland and a few in North America. We don’t become someone else because of where we live”.

As far as the Vikings, Eber said,
“History wants them to be really bad guys but they were all just farmers, family people looking for land to grow food. Viking is a word that really means to go hiking or treking. We didn’t have horns, we brushed our teeth and combed our hair. We are to this day a peaceful people. The Vikings got a bad name because they were not afraid to die and that made them fearless in battle. It’s very effective. Now, we just make pipes.”

We are very proud of our Danish freehand pipes we hope you will be as proud to own one!