Kai Nielsen Smooth Volcano (Jewel of Denmark) (D) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Kai Nielsen is the eldest son of Bari pipe factory founder Viggo Nielsen and started working at Bari for "pocket money" in his teens before joining the factory full-time in 1972, at the age of 21. Now a pipe artisan of many years in his own right, Kai's designs are thoroughly Danish, as is this Volcano, which is shaped in a manner very different from any Volcano I've observed before.

Kai gave this piece his elite designation — Jewel of Denmark — as a testament to the excellent grain and fascinating shaping of this Volcano. Unlike the typical Volcano, which you might picture as having a conical bowl on top of a rounded, ridgelined heel to offer the appearance of a stereotypical volcano, this Volcano nears the appearance of a canted Brandy, but with a very straight, upright wall at the fore of the bowl. The shank is quite wide, flaring outward to cover the entire width of the bowl's aft, and it kicks upward into a sleek, half-saddle stem of vulcanite. Kai saved the birdseye for the flanks of the bowl and cross grain for the shank and heel, then stained it a bright reddish-orange to make the grain truly pop. Just a short glimpse, and it's easy to see how this pipe ended up being dubbed a Jewel of Denmark.