Smooth Hiroyuki Tokutomi Tribute Disk Tobacco Pipe

Formerly known as the American Pipe Making Exposition, our annual Global Pipe Making Exposition features contributions from some of the world's foremost artisans, all united around a central theme. One of the most exciting events of the year for carvers, smokers, and enthusiasts of briar alike, the Global Exposition acts not only as a showcase for the immense talent of these artisans, but a focus for the boundless creativity that these masters of the art possess. For 2025, the theme of our Expo is "In Memoriam," celebrating the life and works of artisans who have passed on, yet whose impact on the craft and those around them is utterly undeniable.

Hiroyuki Tokutomi's unique fusion of geometric and organic design cues has left an indelible impact on artisanal pipe making around the world. Brighton James de los Santos' portfolio comprises a plethora of idiosyncratic and innovative designs that are at once both sculptural and organic in design. It is, therefore, no surprise that he chose Hiroyuki Tokutomi as his tribute for this year's Global Pipe Making Exposition. The Disk is a shape pioneered by Tokutomi: basically a Fugu turned ninety degrees so that it's on its side. De los Santos did an excellent job capturing the Fugu-esque essence of Tokutomi's Disk shape with his submission to this year's exposition. In fact, his rendition of the shape is so authentic to its original pioneer that, when I compared it to some older Disks we've had before from Tokutomi, I had a hard time telling the difference between them. This demonstrates an impressively thorough understanding of Tokutomi's style and a firm grasp of pipe-making mechanics.

With its close adherence to the original essence of Tokutomi's Disk shape and given de los Santos' penchant for crazy accents and experimental shapes and finishes, this piece falls on the more reserved end of the American pipe maker's style spectrum. Surprisingly for the shape, it looks almost symmetrical, but upon closer examination, one can find the shape's signature asymmetry is built subtly into the pipe — particularly in the panels circling the shank face and in the bowl's rim and heel. Both the heel and rim are plump, swelling at their centers and gradually mellowing out toward their edges to form a shallow cusp at the ridgelines that frame the central cross grain panel running horizontally around the bowl. The rim and heel each slant in toward the bowl's front, but the heel does so more dramatically, adding the understated, fluid motion that is common across different iterations of the Fugu. The shank is thick, almost as tall as the bowl is. The central cross grain panel, as it flows across the bowl's backside, meets this large shank to form long, parabolic transitions on its top and bottom. From here, the shank swells dramatically into the asymmetrically aligned panels at its face, their misalignment furthering the organic motion about the pipe. When viewing this pipe from the side, one can readily see how the slender stem's subtle downturn contributes to the resemblance to a Fugu: It looks like the graceful, flowing tail of the real fish.

De los Santos' outstanding ability to read the briar is evident with every ridgeline and panel forming this Disk. His choices skillfully highlight the interplay between cross grain and birdseye, showing off an arresting array of grain throughout the pipe made even more beautiful by a gorgeous, dark auburn stain. The bottom of the stummel has some of the most mesmerizing birdseye I've ever seen tangled up in interlocked, swirling nests of grain. A striking confluence of Tokutomi's signature style and de los Santos' eye for grain, this Disk is an amazing tribute to one of the greatest pipe makers of all time and a one-of-a-kind addition to the discerning smoker's collection.