Tsuge: Dress Sandblasted Tobacco Pipe

Japanese marque Tsuge was founded in 1936 by Kyoichiro Tsuge, carving mainly ivory cigarette holders. After World War II, Kyoichiro transitioned to pipe making, growing the brand into the largest pipe company in all of Japan. Tsuge's Dress series comprises a single shape in both smooth and sandblasted finishes: the classic Opera. The Opera was a profile specifically designed to slip easily into a pocket without disturbing the surface of clothes, to maintain one's look while attending the opera — hence the name. To achieve this, the bowl is compressed along the flanks and extended at the fore and aft, keeping the chamber volume appreciable but drilling it in an ovoid shape. Here, Tsuge stays true to the conventions of the profile, here pairing it to a tapering stem of black vulcanite and dressing it in a crisp, inky sandblast.