American Estates: Jody Davis 'Princeton' Smooth Cherrywood Tobacco Pipe

Member of Grammy Award-nominated and multi-Gold-Record-certified Christian Rock group Newsboys, Jody Davis is a profusely talented man, not only an actual rock star but one of the United States' most accomplished and widely celebrated artisan pipe carvers. Davis is a master pipe maker, and the skill he's acquired over his more than two decades working with briar affords him a richly varied portfolio whose style can range from classically Anglo-French or timelessly Danish to hearty, bold, and thoroughly American pipes such as this Cherrywood. A hearty piece from the American artisan, this Cherrywood boasts plenty of substance to appreciate in hand, all in a rather compact package at less than five and a half inches long. The bowl stands as the immediate visual center of this pipe, standing on a flat, angled heel that allows the entire piece to sit stably while poised in a jaunty forward cant. Said bowl grows thick, almost perfectly cylindrical walls that rise to a strikingly stylized rim whose outline is reminiscent of the Cauldron, given its swift flare out toward the broadest point: cementing the bowl as the center of this pipe's visual weight. The transition is mid-set, being raised significantly from the heel, and rather wide, giving way to a short, lifting shank and meeting a sleekly tapering stem of demurely downturned black vulcanite. Dressing this pipe is a warm, chestnut-toned stain that reveals dense streaks of flame grain lining the shank and wrapping the bowl, while the left flank of the bowl in particular showcases visible growth rings.