Adam Davidson: Smooth Almond Tobacco Pipe

Stylistically, Adam Davidson's oeuvre draws on design schools from across the world, with particular influence from the Danish and Japanese masters reflected in his keen eye for measured asymmetry and effortlessly organic composition. Davidson's signature Almond shape is essentially an Acorn that's been compressed in Opera-like fashion, boasting an impressive thinness that makes the profile especially well-suited to pocket-carry. In this particular example, Davidson has paired the Almond's remarkable slimness with several crisp, geometrical facets, which serve to both firm up the composition and enhance the look of its curves through the aft side. The transition is wide, with ample space to drape a digit if necessary, and it gives way to a tall and appropriately slim shank framed by ridges at the top and bottom as it reaches out and flares subtly toward its end. This flare is highlighted by a pair of trim panels at the shank's edge, panels that frame the face and curl from a sharp point at the underside to a matching point at the top, creating a dynamic arc that complements similar shaping across the fore side. The softly domed face of the shank is inlaid with a silvery metal ring that provides a sturdy push-mount for this pipe's slim, tapering stem of black vulcanite, one complete with an expansion ring at the base that highlights some negative space at the junction to better balance this piece's visual weight.

Up front, the bowl stands on a sharp, pronounced spur whose sharpness is enhanced as the shank's lower ridge extends through the underside of the bowl and rises across the fore, forming a fine edge at the spur's point. This spur supports some rather hearty walls that flare out expressively toward the rim, extending in length as they rise while retaining a reserved width and assuming an outline certainly reminiscent of its namesake. At the apex of the walls' flare, the briar forms a broad, lenticular rim with a soft dome at its surface, showcasing a pair of points at both ends as the topmost ridge lining the shank extends in concert with the lower ridge to frame the aft wall of the bowl. These ridges additionally cultivate a stylistic paneling across both flanks of the stummel, as the shape's constrained width makes for a pair of broad, relatively flat surfaces at either side that offer a substantial, muscular feel in hand. The aforementioned curl through the shank end's faceted edge doesn't simply complement the shaping across the fore edge of the bowl, but the two are stylistic inversions, as the shank-side arcs toward the fore and the bowl-side arcs toward the aft: forming an ovoid kind of implied line that magnifies this piece's tight-knit musculature while subtly amplifying its curvature. The Almond shape isn't just typified by its reserved width, spurred heel, or the eponymous look of its bowl, but for its near ubiquitous showing of outstanding birdseye, as the profile lends itself exceptionally well to cross grain orientation. This example is no exception, its warm, walnut-toned stain unveiling a dense pattern of the swirling grain across either side of the stummel, all framed by a wrapping pattern of cross grain through the midsection.