Tonni Nielsen: Smooth Whale (Viking) Tobacco Pipe

At the age of 16, Tonni Nielsen started his pipe making career at the famed W.Ø. Larsen workshop, where he studied under Danish greats like Hans "Former" Nielsen and Teddy Knudsen. After nearly a decade at Larsen, Tonni Nielsen set out on his own, establishing a workshop in the basement of his home. His keen eye for shaping, finishing, and engineering is on display with every pipe he crafts, reflecting his decades of experience and ability to get the most out of a given block of briar.

The Whale shape could be considered the more symmetrical and stable cousin of the Blowfish design, as it possesses the Blowfish's structural, bifurcating ridgelines, but without the defined asymmetry associated with that form. Such is the case with this Viking-graded Whale rendition from Nielsen, which brings to mind the large aquatic mammal breaking the surface of the ocean. It's a truly breathtaking design, one with a dramatically lifted heel that thrusts the tall bowl upward and outward into visual prominence. A crisp ridgeline wraps the totality of the stummel and adds a touch of rigidity to the otherwise curvaceous silhouette, while additionally highlighting the shape's whimsical outline, focusing the eye on the shape's forward-surging bowl and the gently cresting shank. A smoky smooth finish completes the ensemble and highlights impeccable cross grain and birdseye across the briar's surface.