Tsuge Ikebana: Smooth Tomato (Fukuda) (K) (184) (2017) Tobacco Pipe

Tsuge has always been dedicated to the highest quality possible, and in the 1970s, to help achieve that goal, the company sent six craftsmen to Italy and to Denmark to learn new techniques and to collaborate with other established artisans. Fukuda was among them, and he worked with Sixten Ivarsson while in Denmark, as well as with Jorgen Larsen. After these excursions to other pipe makers, Tsuge launched the prestigious handmade Ikebana line, which is supervised by Fukuda.

Here we see his skills at their height with a curvaceous Tomato in a smooth finish. The grain drapes the bowl with tendrils of flame grain, while the tight transition introduces a shank of stout proportions terminating in a ring-like expansion at its end. Plump curvature defines the bowl, and that organic disposition promotes an intuitive feel in hand to accompany the excellent smoking properties that the Ikebana line has built a reputation on.