Werner Mummert: Smooth Reverse Calabash Poker Tobacco Pipe

German artisan Werner Mummert is renowned for his boundary-pushing designs both functionally and aesthetically, with his work displaying inventive engineering and inspired shaping. With a career as an engineer, serving as a member of the European Wood Turner Association, and boasting decades of experience as a pipe maker, Mummert has channeled his background and influences and forged an unmistakable style. While his designs are highly imaginative, Mummert's style doesn't compromise on practicality as seen here.

Mummert's portfolio hosts a wealth of signature designs ranging from interpretations of shape-chart classics and unique design. Illustrated here is one of the German carver's distinctive Poker renditions, with his capabilities as an engineer lending well to the form's characteristically utilitarian design. A robust, cylindrical bowl sits firmly atop a flat heel, from which smooth straight walls reach toward the rim. With a unique take on reverse Calabash engineering, a capacious glass shank is joined to the bowl via a pair of springs connected to the shank end, making a piece that can provide a cool, dry smoking experience in addition to being convenient to disassemble. Holding the shank in place is a smooth briar cap at the shank end, which accepts a sleek tapered stem of jet-black vulcanite. The bowl and shank end wear a smooth, honey-blonde stain, with the fore of the bowl displaying lovely birdseye.