Tom Eltang: Smooth Bulldog Tobacco Pipe

Danish artisan Tom Eltang is rightly regarded as among the foremost pipe carvers working today. Eltang has honed his craft for decades, sharing his knowledge with scores of promising pipe carvers over the years. This Bulldog is a fine example of the carver's style, rendered masterfully, as expected. A less common piece for Eltang, the Bulldog shape is playfully reimagined with a fetching arrangement of angles and curves. The bowl features a broad tapered rim delineated by the form's traditional beadlines at the waist and rests on a particularly soft heel with a gestural forward cant. A flattened diamond shank stretches out past the transition, a more shallow, oval-like interpretation, fitted with a hand-cut vulcanite stem. Dressed in a rich auburn stain, the stummel boasts perfectly oriented grain, with swirling birdseye at the rim, heel, and shank punctuated by a tight band of flame grain around the middle of the bowl.