Kai Nielsen: Smooth Stubby Billiard (Jewel of Denmark) (D) Tobacco Pipe

A second-generation Danish pipe maker, Kai Nielsen is the son of Viggo Nielsen, who helped found the marque Bari in 1948. Kai Nielsen often spent time around the workshop in his childhood, and began working there at 21 years of age. Over 50 years later, Kai Nielsen is still making pipes. Nielsen makes traditional shapes with a classic Danish style, evidenced by many of his pipe's gestural profiles and supple bowls. Few pipe makers have more experience than Kai Nielsen, and his lifelong skill is evident in each pipe he crafts.

This stubby Billiard by Kai Nielsen is an excellent example of his penchant for crafting Nosewarmer-sized pipes. Measuring in at three and a half inches, this pipe is petite but its disposition is muscular, pairing a sturdy, upright bowl to a thick shank. Dressed in a vivid auburn stain, the stummel showcases sweeping strokes of vertical grain that surround the bowl and flow down the flanks of the shank, while birdseye swirls on the underside. The acrylic stem complements the stummel's stain with organic striations that mimic the look of a horn stem.