Ken Dederichs: Smooth Mushroom Tobacco Pipe

Ken Dederichs is a Germany-based, Japanese pipe maker known for his organic, asymmetric designs and expert finishing work. He's a carver with a low annual production rate, prioritizing quality over quantity, so it's always a welcome sight when one of his designs arrives at the Smokingpipes office. Dederichs crafts the Mushroom shape with some regularity, and it's certainly one for which he has a fondness.

This rendition presented here boasts the artful asymmetry associated with the carver's work, with a pronounced, uneven ridgeline encircling the softly inflated rim and wavering across the flanks of the bowl. While the bowl subtly cants forward, the shank curls coming out the low-set transition and broadens across its length to a bulbous face. The shank's rapid flaring mirrors the inflation of the bowl to the rim, creating a sense of visual balance through the shaping. Dederichs can always be counted on to maximize a briar block's grain, and with this piece, a contrast stain and a glossy smooth finish dress the stummel and showcase sweeping flame grain across the bowl and dense birdseye across the rim for plenty of visual intrigue.