Rattray's: Fachen (106) (9mm) Tobacco Pipe

The "106" bent Billiard from Rattray's is a more gently bent rendition compared to the Scottish marque's "2" and "8" designs. With a stout, abbreviated shank, the "106" features a burly, broad bowl, making for a robust design that doesn't lack in palm-filling substance and exudes a muscular, almost Pot-like presence. It's a pipe meant to be held, marked by a firm heel and hearty proportions, while the elongated, tapered stem adds a touch of accenting refinement in profile.

Described by John Francis Campbell in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, a four-volume compilation of fairy tales and Scottish folklore, the Fachen is a giant of singular features, displaying a single eye in the middle of its face, a single tuft of hair atop its head, a single hand protruding from its chest, and a single leg supporting it from below. Oddly enough, that description fits in quite well with the characteristics of a pipe: a single shank emerging from the side of a single bowl (like an arm from out of the chest), within which lies a single chamber (a myopic eye), and after issuing a charring light, such loose leaves of tobacco could very well resemble a tuft of hair. Such uncanny similarities have prompted the Scottish marque to devote a whole series to the mythical beast, offering pipes marked by a dark green color palette and a sandblasted finish.