Hiroyuki Tokutomi: Sandblasted Nosewarmer Billiard Tobacco Pipe

Though one of the few overtly classic pieces I've personally seen from Hiroyuki Tokutomi, this gorgeous Nosewarmer Billiard is still masterfully handled, exuding a stout, streamlined sense of energy, and likewise a Danish presence in profile. It's a fairly unassuming form for a carver known for wild, boldly organic feats of shaping, and those that have historically tended to shift the landscape of pipemaking as we know it. That being said, Toku himself took a special liking to this handy form, with its subtle, tanblasted texture and swirled, lemony acrylic mount (the material for which is specially sourced by the pipemaker, favored for its resistance to oxidation), so much so that the Japanese master was tempted to absorb the piece into his own rotation of daily smokers. Thankfully, he opted to send this one out into the world, and the world is surely better for it.