David Huber: Smooth Poker with Bamboo (0319) Tobacco Pipe

While this piece is somewhat of an anomaly in David Huber's portfolio — being both the first Poker shape we've seen from him and only the second pipe to utilize bamboo — it still hews closely to the American artisan's robustly elegant, American-Industrial-meets-Japanese-organicism style. Up front stands a bold, thick-walled, cylindrical bowl, slightly inflated of rim with the flattened, canted heel ensuring it stands upright with ease. Behind, then, the shank extends through two hearty knuckles of pale bamboo, topped with a reinforced shank and saddle stem at the end. What impresses me most about this piece (apart from the absolutely stunning array of birdseye and cross grain around the bowl) is how Huber has fashioned the base of the saddle stem — perfectly spaced and disc-like of profile, it mimics the bamboo knuckles of the shank, so much so that in silhouette, the piece appears accented by three, not two knuckles. Stunning craftsmanship from David in quite the attractive desk pipe.