Danish Estates: Tao Smooth Bent Apple with Silver Tobacco Pipe

Jens "Tao" Nielsen's style might be described as robust, his shapes maintaining a sense of muscularity in hand, balanced through his clever use of lines and proportions. In the case of this bent Apple, the undercurve of shank and heel flow smoothly while the upper part of the transition offers an angular quality and supports the apple shape of the bowl. That bowl is also smoothly curved, its arcs drifting over the top to the tobacco chamber, which on this pipe reveals some rim charring. The shank rises to a sterling silver accent, and the stem base widens from that accent before dramatically reducing at the shoulders to the flat saddle configuration. The flanks reveal a smooth chestnut stain that illuminates the vertical grain, and overall it's remarkably comfortable in hand with a fine balance that will invite hands-free smoking.