Danish Estates: Nørding Sandblasted Tomato Tobacco Pipe

A trailblazer for the Danish Fancy style, Erik Nørding has been handcrafting pipes since the 1960s. Even before his pipe-making career, Nørding always had a knack for invention. Taking after his father, he worked as a blacksmith when he was 15 years old and later studied engineering, all in preparation to one day take over his family's factory. After graduating, Nording veered away from running the factory and took up fashioning pipe-making machinery, which would lead him toward making his own pipes. A squat interpretation of the form, this Tomato from Nørding is on the more reserved end of his portfolio. The bowl is pert and plump, its broad heel and rotund waistline offering a snug fit in the hand. Adorned with a metal accent at its face, a compact oval shank transitions from the bowl and pairs to a quickly tapering stem of jet-black vulcanite. Completing this handsome piece is a crisp sandblast dressing the stummel with a dark, rugged complexion.