David Huber: Sandblasted Nekkikyū (0320) Tobacco Pipe

"Hot air balloon" in the Japanese language, David Huber's Nekkikyū certainly evokes the shape of the grandiose form used for silent air transportation. Presented here as part of the 2020 American Pipe Making Exposition, this piece was notably the first David completed in his newly renovated workshop after returning from his second trip to Denmark. The stummel sits atop a concise foot at the heel, rising organically to a smooth, chamfered rim with just a touch of plateau at its foremost point, but with a ragged and natural undulation around its circumference that further evokes the disposition of plateau. The sandblasted grain descending from that rim is very fine and tight, undulating in rippling waves of growth rings in a low-profile texture that is endlessly stimulating under the finger pads, and the end of the shank echoes the rim with a soft, smooth dome in the same hue.

David's influences for this pipe are the carvers Nanna Ivarsson and Hiroyuki Tokutomi, and we can see some of their styles in the Ivarsson-esque perfection of the contours and in the offset end of shank and tight transition so well represented in the work of Tokutomi. But David's own style is evident, and this piece is unlike any other. Tall and well shaped, with an offset expansion ring introducing the slender aspect of the tapered stem, it's a vertically inclined and organically proportioned tour de force with a presence and personality of remarkable individualism.