Ping Zhan: Sandblasted Fugu with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Among the most respected and talented pipe makers in the world, Ping Zhan impresses with a style that often hews toward organic and asymmetrical designs, and few shapes encapsulate those aspects better than the Fugu. Also called the Blowfish, the Fugu is a shape with roots in Danish pipe making but was truly championed by Japanese artisans. In its earliest form, the Blowfish was quite symmetrical and barrel-shaped — like a squat barrel tipped on its side. The design was created to highlight birdseye along the circular flanks with cross grain in the middle, and Japanese artisans expanded upon the general outline of the shape to create highly evocative and asymmetrical renditions that later became known also as "Fugus" — "Blowfish" in Japanese. Since grain orientation is the Fugu's main defining feature, it offers endless creativity for artisans to render it according to their own inclinations.

This Fugu from Ping Zhan features a rather reserved bowl compared to other Fugu renditions, and it maintains a central panel of cross grain with birdseye along the rounded flanks. One of the Fugu's most recognizable aspects is its ridgelines that often coalesce into "fins" along the transition, as seen here in Zhan's rendition. A touch of plateau along the right flank hints at the briar's origins within the burl, and it's all dressed in a dark sandblast for an elegant and formal motif. What separates this particular Fugu from others, though, is Zhan's approach to the shank: A long section of horn extends the pipe's length and reveals a paneled cross-section to tie it into the stummel. Multi-hued and semi-transparent, the horn is a beautiful complement to the rest of the pipe's palette, and the dramatic flare at the end features intricate paneling along the edge and artfully echoes the outward flicking aspect of the transition's ridgelined fins.