Manduela: Smooth Lovat with Musk Ox Tobacco Pipe

Manduela Riger-Kusk is a Danish artisan with a quite distinctive style, often employing crisp line work and paneled motifs in her designs. This lithe Nosewarmer Lovat takes a different approach, fitting well into her convention of crafting diminutive pipes and falling in line with classic Danish styling with a tapering bowl, rounded heel, and cheeking at the transition. The shank certainly portrays her penchant for arrow-straight profiles, though, making a beeline for an accent of musk ox horn incorporated into the base of its precisely crafted vulcanite stem.

More often, I see the grain expanding on a pipe as it rises, but Manduela has employed the opposite technique here, turning the block over to let the grain taper with the bowl. To say it is nicely done would be a vast understatement, as she has followed the grain perfectly to bring out brilliant flames that sweep upward in concert with the bowl's lines. A brilliant auburn stain and glossy smooth finish put the briar's beauty on timeless display, proving there are no flaws to hide here. A mere 23 grams, this is a stylish Danish clencher the likes of which you will be hard pressed to find equal to, a real tribute to Manduela's skill and a fitting centerpiece to even the most distinguished collection.