Danish Estates: Kai Nielsen Smooth Bent Billiard (Jewel of Denmark) Tobacco Pipe

Son of Viggo Nielsen, Kai Nielsen became well acquainted with pipe making as a teenager while working for his father at the Bari pipe factory. The factory was sold in 1975, whereafter Kai, his father, and his younger brother Jørgen, decided to make pipes together, which would be known as Faaborg pipes. After Viggo's passing, Kai and Jørgen would take the skills they learned from him and forge their own paths in pipe making. Kai Nielsen encapsulates traditional Danish shaping sensibilities with this sleek rendition of the classic bent Billiard. The bowl stands pert and upright, with supple walls reaching up from the heel and gently tapering near the rim. A sinuous shank lifts out of a cheeked transition and joins a tapered cumberland stem that subtly bends, creating a poised profile. Adorning the stem is a trim, cream-colored accent band, adding some definition between the cumberland's rich, swirling tones and the stummel's striking, walnut-stained vertical grain.