Smooth Billiard (Jewel of Denmark) (X) Tobacco Pipe

Kai Nielsen is the eldest son of Bari pipe factory founder Viggo Nielsen and started working at Bari for "pocket money" in his teens before joining the factory full-time in 1972, at the age of 21. Now a pipe artisan of many years in his own right, Kai's designs are thoroughly Danish, as is this bent Egg, which Kai awarded his elite designation: Jewel of Denmark. The "X" sub-grade further designates this piece as the best of Kai's elite works.

This Billiard from Kai is a compact Nosewarmer measuring well under four and a half inches in length, and is fronted by a relatively stout bowl just 1.21 inches deep, making it an easily portable pocket pipe. The shank is muscular, with the top crest reaching to a point most of the way up the aft wall of the bowl. The aft wall is straight in its slope to the shank, while the fore wall is well-rounded from the heel up. Tight tendrils of flame grain decorate the bowl and shank with a wealth of great birdseye on the bottom of the shank and heel, all of it finished smoothly and stained a dark walnut hue. The stem is a straight saddle-style length of vulcanite, finishing this piece in a no-nonsense manner and preserving the compact dimensions Kai sought when he started working with this particular piece of briar.