Tsuge Ikebana: Sandblasted Bent Apple (Fukuda) (G) (065) (21) Tobacco Pipe

The Tsuge Ikebana workshop consists of three artisans — Kazuhiro Fukuda, Yoshirou Ohi, and Asami Kikuchi — who individually craft pipes under the Ikebana name. Kazuhiro Fukuda is the workshop's supervisor and was one of the initial carvers that Tsuge sent to Denmark to study under Sixten Ivarsson. With decades of pipe making experience, Fukuda is a venerated carver, and his mastery of the craft is on full display with this bent Apple.

Measuring less than five inches in total length, this bent Apple is a compact take on the classic shape, its build and dimensions making it perfect for on-the-go smoking. Shape-wise, this piece features a curvaceous bowl that's poised at the fore of a wide oval shank and a demurely curved mouthpiece. Crisp ridgelines across the shank's sides offer some striking contrast to the supple bowl, and lend a touch of structural definition to the form's otherwise gestural profile. A crisp, dark sandblast dresses the stummel and highlights some mesmerizing grain throughout, most notably along the bowl's flanks, where tight growth rings ripple from heel to rim.