Emil Chonowitsch Smooth Billiard Tobacco Pipe

After 20 years running a tobacconist shop in Copenhagen, Emil Chonowitsch, then retired and, longing to create something beautiful with his hands, was hired by Poul Rasmussen to do pipe repairs: kicking off a career that would last nearly the rest of his life. After Rasmussen's death, Emil started a workshop where he and his, now legendary, son Jess could craft pipes of their own make, gaining acclaim for his classically oriented Danish designs. Emil ceased making pipes in 1992, and later died in 1996, though his legacy lives on through his work. This Billiard is a striking pipe from the artisan, one that presents with a robust substance through its bowl, which immediately draws the eye to the fore. The distribution of the visual weight here is remarkably neoclassical, as the bowl stands on its muscular heel and grows walls well over two inches tall, their low-set waist marking a subdued taper to the rim. This bowl conceals a capacious chamber, priming the pipe for leisurely smoking sessions, while its curves ensure a comfortable feel in hand. The wide transition out back pairs the bowl to a comparatively short shank whose reach is marked by a subdued compression, forming the shank in a slightly ovoid shape before it's met by a sleekly tapering stem of black vulcanite. At only five and a half inches long, this pipe is fairly compact, though its substantial presence in hand makes it a must-have for enthusiasts of high-quality Danish pipes with ample muscularity. Dressed in a warm, ruby-toned smooth finish, the stummel here displays some truly impressive birdseye across both sides of the bowl and shank, while cross grain wraps around the midsection in an unbroken pattern of streaks.