Martelo: Smooth Jatobá with Bamboo Tobacco Pipe

Gustavo Cunha, the artisan behind Martelo pipes, has a distinctive pipe making style, often drawing influence from the natural world and its organic elements. That's perhaps most evident with Gustavo's signature Jatobá shape, a design inspired by and named after the fruit pods of the jatobazeiro tree which is native to Cunha's home country of Brazil. While we've seen various renditions of the Jatobá, each is united by the characteristically tall and flaring bowl that sits perched on the end of a lithe shank-and-stem combination, evoking the appearance of the jatobazeiro tree's edible fruit pods. The bowl on this particular rendition is impressively tall and slender, featuring a tobacco chamber that's Stack-like in depth and rounded, tapering flanks from rim to heel. A single beadline adorns the bowl, a subtle accenting touch that pairs quite well with the beveled rim above it.

Along with the stellar shaping, I'm enthralled with the gorgeous grain Gustavo has managed to coax out of the briar. Incredibly tight, flowing tendrils of grain cascade down the bowl's flanks, with each vertical streak well-defined underneath the light contrast stain. The stummel's light coloration is handsomely complemented by the five knuckles of pale bamboo that extend the shank, sweeping up to meet the gracefully downturned saddle stem. The bamboo also further emphasizes the composition's inherent organic aesthetic while the bumpy nodes around each knuckle offer some textural contrast.