American Estates: Cardinal House Hollingsworth Smooth Stubby Billiard with Silver (E15) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Cardinal House pipes are made by Walt Cannoy, a respected artisan whose experience in the craft goes back to the 1990s. Each of Cannoy's pipes is completely hand made and hand finished, and the Cardinal House line was specifically created to offer all of these features in a series that included artful shaping at a reasonable price. This stubby Billiard lives up to its name easily, coming in at well under four inches in length, making this a true and apt Nosewarmer. The bowl here is the visual center of the composition, though it's balanced nicely by the shank and stem combination, with the aft side pairing possessed of an appreciable thickness. The stem itself is short, comprising a swift taper of black vulcanite, and it's married to the shank at a broad band of silver. Up front, the bowl stands on a rounded heel and cants forward dynamically, its softly curvaceous walls taking on an understated bit of taper up toward the chamfered rim. Dressed in a warm, deep stain and a slightly glossy finish, the stummel showcases dense plains of birdseye across both flanks, the midsection striated by a wrapping band of cross grain.