Tao: Smooth Bulldog with Antique Whale Tooth and Silver Tobacco Pipe

Stocky and compact are words we often use to describe Tao Nielsen's pipes, with this Bulldog following suit. Abbreviated and bordering on chubby, the proportions here are well-suited to the shape, though a great deal of care has been taken to keep the piece balanced. A tight transition, for instance, divides the crisp lines of a diamond shank from the softer form of the bowl, the panels near its heel giving way to a gentle bevel above the dual bead lines.

It's been finished in a light stain, allowing the natural coloring and grain of the briar to stand out, as well as contrasting against the other elements at play: a crisp sterling silver butterfly adorning the bowl's left flank, and pale, antique whale tooth accenting the warm, cumberland mouthpiece. It's an impressive combination, requiring no small amount of consideration to get just right — and yet, here, done with aplomb.

*While the harvesting of whales is most often thought of in terms of the once widespread whaling industry, small-scale, localized whale hunts have been central to Faroese life since the North Atlantic islands were settled by the Norse, circa 800 A.D. With a climate and soil wholly unsuited to supporting life by farming crops, those who lived on the Faroe Islands learned to subsist upon pilot whale, sheep, seabirds, and fish. The rich meat and blubber of the pilot whale was (and still is) the most important, the annual catch to this day being divided communally then stored, prepared or preserved in Faorese households (in other words, you won't find it in a Faroe Islands supermarket, nor do they export any of it).