Danish Estates: Former Smooth Bent Egg Tobacco Pipe

Hans "Former" Nielsen is a living legend — a Danish pipe maker who has honed his craft for over sixty years and earned worldwide renown for creating fine smoking instruments. Former's reputation for perfection precedes him, and his shaping style showcases a carefully considered artistry and extremely clean line work, marrying refined aesthetics to internal engineering that guarantees phenomenal smoking every time. This bent Egg is a remarkably plump pipe whose bowl is the immediate visual center of its build, affording this piece a neoclassical look that stands out among Former's portfolio.

Comparatively, the shank and stem are svelte and sleek, the pair lifting out of a wide transition as the shank tapers subtly throughout its curling reach. A black vulcanite saddle stem completes the pair and balances a bit of this pipe's visual weight by virtue of its stylish expansion ring, comprising a firm-edged, domed shape with the shoulders of a more traditionally-stylized saddle extending out of it. There's a slight bit of cinching at the transition that serves to separate the bowl from the shank further, and it emphasizes the bowl's curves nicely as the walls cant forward dynamically. These walls stand atop a sweeping, rounded heel and expand as they curve into a mid-set waistline, where they then take on an easy taper to the rim, smartly insulating a capacious chamber and filling out the contours of the hand. Dressed in a warm, cherry-auburn stain, the stummel boasts handsome grain, with an array of flame grain wrapping around the walls of the bowl and flowing through the flanks of the shank. Additionally, the rim and top side showcase some lovely birdseye, while the underside is awash with a vast sea of the swirling grain.