Martelo Smooth Bent Billiard with Pau Três Folhas (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Gustavo Cunha of marTelo grew up in the municipality of Diamantina in southeastern Brazil, where he grew to love working with wood. After obtaining a degree in design and working with a manufacturer of modernist furniture, he began to make Freehand briar pipes that took inspiration from classic English shapes. He met with Tom Eltang to learn from the Danish master in 2013 and began making pipes full-time the following year. His workshop is located in Belo Horizonte, a large city in the same state of Minas Gerais where he grew up.

The tapering of the bowl fronting this bent Billiard gives it an appearance near that of an Egg, especially given the canted arc of the aft. It's hard to pay much attention to the shaping, however, given the strength and uniformity of the flame grain that circles the bowl and stretches back to coat the sides of the shank. The shank arcs upward into an accent ring of Pau Três Folhas wood, beyond which a saddle stem of vulcanite stretches back from well-defined shoulders and bends generously back to the bit. The curves of this piece form an oblique "S" shape on the underside from bit to heel, giving this piece a fine sense of forward motion.