Adam Davidson: Sandblasted Erotique Tobacco Pipe

The Erotique shape was pioneered by Jørn Micke, a revered Danish carver that became especially popular in Japan. Micke's popularity led to a number of Japanese carvers putting their spin on the unique, anatomy-inspired design, like Hiroyuki Tokutomi and Ray Kurusu. Adam Davidson, being a fan of both Danish and Japanese pipe making, and having worked with Tokutomi in the past, has fashioned a few renditions of the blush-inducing shape before, but whereas his past interpretations were of a more stretched, slender build, this example is far more gestural and fluid.

Like Tokutomi's reinterpretation of the shape, Davidson has fashioned the bowl with a deep, defined crease on the fore, underside, and aft walls of the bowl, more or less evenly bifurcating the bulbous form vertically and horizontally. The slender build and gentle upturn of the shank-and-stem arrangement keeps the pipe lively and elegant in profile, without distracting from the plump, muscular bowl and its defined, eye-catching grooves. A brass inlay reinforces the mortise and ensures durability to the push-style mouthpiece, while also adding a touch of flash to the pipe's otherwise reserved color palette. A crisp, dark sandblast commends the briar and coaxes out radiating waves of growth rings across the flanks of the bowl, providing plenty of substance for they eyes and fingers to enjoy.