Danish Estates: Nording Smooth Freehand 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. Featuring a flattened heel at the fore of the bowl, this Freehand from Nørding is a sure sitter with a lively stance, complete with free-flowing line work that makes for a playful design. From the firm, pointed heel, the bowl's thick walls flare toward the rim, which is draped with an outcropping of plateau on the left side. A robust shank grows from the transition, flaring toward a plateau-capped face as it joins to a bent, tapered stem with a set of stylish expansion rings at its base. The stummel wears a vibrant, auburn stain that highlights lively vertical grain all throughout.