Todd Johnson: Sandblasted Matador (Hoplite) Tobacco Pipe

Few artisans have had a greater impact on the pipe making world than Todd Johnson. He was among the first American artisans to seek out the Danes and learn their method of pipe making, and he's since passed that knowledge on to many younger carvers throughout his career. That said, while Johnson has championed the engineering and techniques of Danish artisan pipe making, he's developed a style all his own — one that often results in gorgeous, organic forms that seem more to have grown from nature rather than having been shaped on a sanding disc. While some makers conform the briar to a predetermined form, Johnson considers himself a slave to the briar's natural whimsy, seeking to reveal what shape it wishes to be.

The Matador is among Johnson's signature shapes, but it's one he produces with less frequency than, say, his Samurai Volcano or even his Sarcophagus renditions. Essentially, the Matador is a bent Dublin Sitter variation, featuring a curling shank and stem, Dublin bowl, and a flattened heel to promote sturdy sitting. What makes this piece a Matador, though, is the dramatic gesture and curvature of the design: The bowl is pitched forward so much that the shank and stem almost point directly upright, and the fore of the bowl is deeply concave and sloped to further emphasize the design's forward dynamism. Such design cues evoke the poised posture and stoic elegance of matadors as they hold their capes to the ground in the arena. This particular example is commended by accordion-like stacks of ring grain that follow the bowl's bend — a testament to Johnson's reading of the briar — and it's tastefully accented by a hand-cut stem of unique, ebony-and-sand brindled vulcanite.