Todd Johnson: Smooth Cup and Ball with Leather Wrapped Shank and Bakelite (Hoplite) Tobacco Pipe

With a portfolio that boasts aluminum accentwork, 24K gold leaf, and a pipe fashioned from a genuine Nautilus shell, it's safe to say that Todd Johnson is not the sort of pipemaker to rest on his laurels. Here, he's fashioned another of his stellar leather-wrapped pieces, in this case a rendition of his own Cup and Ball shape. In this case, it's one of his more muscular interpretations too, with a broad, bold Dublin/Acorn hybrid bowl leading gracefully to an equally powerful, flared shank and stem combination. Well, I should probably say more powerful, as it's here dressed in a creamy sheath of olive leather, bound with ruby-red stitching to complement the warm-hued, matte-like contrast employed here. Todd's opted to accent it with an appropriately vibrant crimson bakelite at the shank's end, with a domed saddle of the stuff as well, in swirled, shimmering grey-blue. Leather wrapped pipes may have been around for some time, but it takes a visionary carver like Todd Johnson to aid in bringing them to the 21st Century. Cool stuff.