Todd Johnson: Smooth Oval Shank Billiard with Bakelite (Hoplite) Tobacco Pipe

While his complex Freehands and avant-garde pieces are all quite striking, you just can't beat a straight up classic from Todd Johnson. Keeping true to the old shape chart model while throwing in a bit of his own style as well, this straight Billiard is a great example of Johnson's more minimalist approach to traditional designs. The bowl, for example, shows some strong Danish influence, softened and broadened at the base to emphasize its height and produce an almost Brandy-like look in profile. Todd's accentuated that delicate shaping even more in this rendition, setting the smoothly tapered bowl against a lower-profile, more streamlined oval shank and saddle stem configuration, which in turn works to lend even more visual weight to the bowl. While all that's impressive in its own right, I particularly like the color palette Johnson's gone for in this piece. For the overall finish, he chose a rich, glossy walnut contrast stain, lending a lot of definition to the block's dense licks of straight and flame grain all around the bowl. And to accent? Todd rounded this piece off by fitting it to unique Bakelite mouthpiece of periwinkle blue hue. If you're a fan of Johnson's more conservative fair, this would make for an excellent addition to your collection.

- Andrew Wike