Smooth Bent Dublin with Horn Tobacco Pipe

To say that I have fallen for this pipe might be the understatement of the month (the understatement of the Century occurred when I told Sykes that I felt I had an insufficient grasp of punctuation to do this job). There are elements here, if we broke the pipe into a myriad of subcategories, that remind me of Lars, Rainer, even Johnson. Still one doesn't evaluate, much less buy, a shank, a rim, a mount or a transition. One buys a pipe, a totality and this pipe is Brad Pohlmann.

Like much of the world class pipe making talent, Brad creates an achingly beautiful interior line and, simultaneously, glories and protects that arc by carrying the ridge from that perfect tear drop shank well into the fore of the bowl. Akin to the parting whisper of a lover, that edge trails off and disappears. but the effect lingers. The bowl revels with straight grain on the sides that displays a delicious continuity all the way down both sides of the shank, and that straight grain finds its equal in the dazzling birdseye on the rim. One only needs to take a glance at the world class, perfectly symmetrical slotting of the bit to know how much care went into the interior works. Highly recommended.

--Bear Graves