Werner Mummert: Smooth Apple Tobacco Pipe

Enigmatic and entirely original, the work of Werner Mummert is truly singular, the German artisan's four decades of experience as an engineering technician contributing to a style that's painstakingly precise and features expert drilling. Mummert's start in the pipe-carving craft was fostered by his longing for more pipes and his relative lack of funds, buying a carving kit which he shaped with files and a Dremel, his pipe-smoking friends then contacting him to ask for their own thanks to his good work. Much of Mummert's inspiration lies outside of the pipe world, instead centering around modern art, Werner attending art or photo exhibitions as often as he can to find new sources of influence.

This Brandy-like Apple features a signature shaping element from Mummert, though one we've seen in a variety of different configurations over the years, with this particular piece standing out even among those thanks to its impressively compact muscularity. This pipe is a hearty, thick piece that boasts an imposing, structured feel in hand thanks to its utterly unique silhouette, specifically with regard to the shaping at the shank and transition. Said transition is wide and gives way to a subtly paneled shank marked by an understated square outline, one which flares out to meet the vibrantly-colored saddle stem at its end while maintaining a slight, rounded softness at the flatter points. What truly typifies this transition is the monolithic obelisk of briar that sleekly tapers upward and comes to a pointed peak which proudly presides over the rim, its presence adding a great deal of thickness to the bowl. Additionally, this shaping detail acts as the center of the visual weight here, its height and sharpness immediately drawing the eye and holding one's attention at the fore. Up front, the bowl here stands atop a firm heel marked by a wrapping ridge that continues from the lower flanks of the shank to curl around the bottom of the bowl in a pointed, rounded configuration. From here, the walls of the bowl expand to a low-set waist, taking on an arcing taper to the rim while canting forward dynamically: providing ample room to showcase the warm, honey-blonde finish of the stummel and the stunning grain it reveals, with a veritable ocean of birdseye on the underside.