Kent Rasmussen: Smooth Tomato with Ivorite Tobacco Pipe

As a former architect, and a sculptor, Kent Rasmussen is a master of a line and form. The Danish artisan's skill enables him to craft stylized Freehand iterations that, while often playfully shaped, still maintain their inherent "pipeness" — it's the subtle distinction between making pipes that also happen to be sculptures and making sculptures that just happen to also be pipes. Kent first and foremost carves quality smoking instruments, but they're also immaculate works of art. This Tomato is an exemplary personification of Rasmussen's craftsmanship, artistry, and personal design cues.

Most evocative of Kent's style is the shaping of the shank here: It's marked by a crisply paneled ridgeline outlining the form as it curls back on itself, resembling a violin's scroll. Such a design element is a signature of Rasmussen's and one that immediately sets his pipes apart. While the execution is impressive, what truly inspires is the Danish carver's skill at incorporating the feature into the overall composition — the flowing line adds dynamism to the profile, ushering the eye toward the bowl, which continues the momentum as the heel lifts and the back line of the bowl urges forward. The same coherence is afforded the stem, meeting the rounded shank face in standard tenon arrangement that resembles a mount style. The slender curve of the mouthpiece initiates the bowl's momentum and gives the impression of low-hanging fruit drooping on the end of a bent branch. A beautiful piece of ivorite comprises the stem, seamlessly married to the vulcanite, and the grain orientation of the stummel is a marvel — so much so that this piece could very well have received Rasmussen's highest Butterfly grade.