Danish Estates: Tom Eltang Smooth Rhodesian Tobacco Pipe

Tom Eltang's many talents speak to a man of great experience, one who has worked with some of the foremost names in Danish pipe making. At 16 Eltang apprenticed under Anne Julie before repairing pipes for Pipe-Dan and then touring Europe for Stanwell, demonstrating pipe making at events in tobacco shops. During this time, Eltang's eye for shaping, sense of pipe function, and his own personal style evolved, and when he finally decided to make pipes on his own, he attained a reputation for crafting fine smoking instruments such as this Rhodesian.

This is a truly singular rendition of the classic shape, with a distinctive sense of plunging curvature through the shank and stem that lifts through the heel and into the bowl, granting it a striking gesture. Said stem is a demurely downtured stretch of black, saddle-oriented vulcanite that flares out at the base to continue the expanse of a gentle flare out from the shank end. This shank flicks upward sinuously out of the transition and poises the stem for comfortable smoking while simultaneously lending it an elegant, postured look. Additionally, the transition is cheeked at the underside where it pushes slightly into the bottom of the bowl and looking here reveals that the entire shank and stem combination is subtly asymmetrical, with the shank favoring the left flank and the stem offset to the right slightly to compensate for this. Continuing the theme of asymmetrical shaping started by the aft portion of the composition, the bowl here is surrounded by a wavering ridgeline that rises high on the left side and dips low on the right, marking a taper to the rim that sees the right wall rising higher than the left, balancing out the build and adding even more detail for the eyes to engross themselves with. The rounded underside and sweeping heel lend a comfortable feel in the hand, and the wealth of briar here provides ample room to display one of Eltang's rich contrast stains, revealing flame grain around the tapering walls of the bowl and through the shank while a dense basin of birdseye populates the underside.