Danish Estates: S. Bang Smooth Blowfish (8) Tobacco Pipe

Per Hansen and Ulf Noltensmeier were the sole artisans employed by Svend Bang in his eponymous workshop for almost 50 years, starting in 1970 and producing pipes of superlative quality until their simultaneous retirement in 2019. As such, their work has now become extremely rare and, due to their exemplary smoking qualities and stunning beauty, supremely collectible, though looking at this Blowfish, it's not hard to see why.

Blowfish renditions from the S. Bang workshop are rather rare, and this particular rendition is one of the workshop's most intriguing takes on the modern classic shape, displaying a more understated outline than many other variations on the profile. The bowl here is plump, with a distinctly round shaping that's reminiscent of the Apple in its curvature, and it stands on a sweeping heel that nicely supports its walls. The fore wall follows the shape of the heel and curls as it reaches toward the rim, while the aft wall displays a less gradual arc upward, working with the angle of the rim to provide the bowl with a dynamic forward cant. A wide transition out back pairs the bowl to a thick, lifting shank that's met by a sleek and slender saddle stem whose slim bit makes a gracile downturn, poising this pipe for comfortable smoking. From the base of the stem, a firm ridgeline manifests and follows the underside of the shank before outlining the heel, wrapping around the fore of the bowl, and terminating at the rim, where it forms the point of a lenticular dome whose edges are marked by their own ridge. This structure acts as the shape's iconic element of asymmetry, though it doesn't split the bowl into panels, but rather into a pair of asymmetric domes that further underscore the pipe's plumpness. Dressed in a warm, auburn-tinged stain, the stummel showcases dense birdseye across the flanks of the bowl, while the midsection is lined with a wrapping pattern of cross grain.