American Estates: Jody Davis Smooth Bent Billiard (Cardinal) (B22) (66) (2022) Tobacco Pipe

Jody Davis, in addition to being an accomplished musician, is also a venerated pipe maker who fashions some of the finest briars in the world. Like many American artisans, Davis tends to fashion relatively compact designs that emphasize muscular proportions over length, something true of this bent Billiard. Stout and full-bodied, this piece boasts a tall, upright bowl that's posed at the fore of a steeply bent shank-and-stem arrangement. The elegant bowl houses a healthy chamber within its thick, insulating walls, ensuring plenty of long, leisurely smoking sessions, which the fluid shank-and-stem arrangement should deftly aid. The bowl possesses a Danish-like taper from its firm, plump heel to its tauter, chamfered rim. The shank-and-stem arrangement, too, possesses a subtle taper from the transition to the bit, a shaping cue that slenderizes the pipe's aft side just a touch. Dressed in an auburn smooth finish, the stummel displays impressive flame grain across the bowl's flanks.

--Davin Hylton