Ikebana Smooth Horn (F) Tobacco Pipe

Though there are exceptions to every rule (and rarely more so when attempting to describe the habits of a Japanese pipe company) Tsuge tends to stay in the realm of two general shapes when it comes to the Ikebana Grade horn. This first is relatively thin, highly elongated and presents a far flatter arc than you will find with most other carvers. The second is much more compact and features a thick, "D" shaped body with a high degree of verticality. While (obviously) this stunning F Grade falls into the latter category, it is also decidedly different from the chubbier ancestors that I have run across. One of the most often seen co-signatures of the chubby Ikebana horn is a fissure of plateau splitting the center. This pipe trades the fissure in favor of an exquisitely nuanced implied movement, almost all of which is generated in the subtle undulation on the back panel. The "softness" of the back panel, when juxtaposed against some almost "Kent-like" edges, creates a marvelous sense of fascination.

--Bear Graves