David Huber: Smooth Volcano (0525) Tobacco Pipe

David Huber has been obsessed with the art of pipe making since buying his first pipe in 2006, spending the following years collecting even more pieces and studying various design schools, with a focus on the Japanese and Danish aesthetics. During this period, Huber worked as a freelance designer for live theater productions, and ordered his first blocks of briar in 2010, spending two years refining his skills. In 2014 he began to carve pipes full time, his progress furthered by tutelage from artisans such as Jeff Gracik, Tom Eltang, and Nanna Ivarsson.

This Volcano is a decidedly Japanese-style take on the shape, and it's one that presents with a remarkable angularity in silhouette that immediately draws the eye to the fore. The heel is the center of this angular look, pushing out significantly from beneath the bowl and terminating in a firm edge, with this edge acting as the far end of the wrapping ridge that rounds the entire underside of the composition. From this heel, the bowl grows imposing walls more than two and a half inches tall, taking on a consistent taper toward a dipped rim while dynamically canting rearward, working in concert with the heel to grant this piece a pointed posture. The right side of the bowl is noteworthy in particular thanks to its inclusion of a long, fluted channel that runs from the rim to the base, creating an organic look that cultivates an impressively varied appearance, as every new perspective one takes to look at this pipe reveals more details. Out back, an acute transition gives way to a subtly lifting shank that's been framed by a quartet of firm panels, these panels outlining the shank's expressive flare toward its face. Said face is a soft dome of briar that's been inlaid with a band of brass, creating a sturdy push-mount to marry the stummel to a sleek saddle stem of black vulcanite whose base features a broad expansion ring and whose bit makes a demure downturn: all while assuming an impressive verticality and extending the reach of this pipe to more than seven inches long. Dressing this pipe is a warm, rich, mahogany-toned stain and slightly glossy smooth finish that reveals dense streaks of flame grain lining the shank and wrapping around the bowl, with a vast sea of birdseye presiding over the underside.