Jess Chonowitsch: Smooth Lovat with Silver Tobacco Pipe

Jess Chonowitsch has been carving pipes almost as long as artisan pipes have existed — Sixten Ivarsson widely regarded as the progenitor of artisan pipes with his "shape first, drill second" approach and Jess having worked directly with Ivarsson after learning basic pipe making principles during his time with W.Ø. Larsen. Since those early years, Chonowitsch has developed a reputation as one of the best carvers the pipe making world has ever seen, and Jess has earned such praise because his pipes exemplify superlative engineering — from stem work, to drilling, to all other craftsman-related aspects — and as-perfect-as-possible shaping. The lines and proportions of Chonowitsch's pieces are exactly what they should be, a feat far easier intended than actually accomplished, and his pipes feature an aesthetic coherence that leaves no element of form imbalanced or out of place.

This Lovat is one such piece. It's a rendition that can be looked to as the archetypal standard of the Lovat shape, from the relative proportions between bowl, shank, and stem, to the consistency of the bowl's curvature, to the steady, almost unnoticeable taper of the shank that, while subtle, ensures the piece maintains its poise and balance in profile. A seemingly "simple" design compared to, say, more extroverted Freehands, the Lovat is anything but an easy shape to carve well. Because of the shape's minimalist style, any improper curve or misread line can ruin the compositional coherence of the design, and Jess hasn't faltered in the slightest in this iteration. It's an immaculate pipe that leaves nothing to be desired, with a presentation to match — the warm, mahogany stain highlighting the briar's grain pattern, and the sterling silver accent band adding elegant flash and sized to a perfect width that complements the proportions of the stummel without distracting from the form's lines.