Dirk Heinemann Sandblasted Fugu with Lilac Tobacco Pipe

Dirk Heinemann started out as a pipe smoker with a background in product design and a carpenter's apprenticeship before he started turning his own pipes. The influence of other pipe makers including Werner Mummert and Tom Eltang can be seen in his handiwork, which is given considerable attention to engineering in addition to outward appearance.

The Fugu is a Japanese-style take on the classic Blowfish, with strong but round ridgelines drawing the many surfaces of this rendition from Dirk, at once quite well rounded and reinforced with straighter, less ovoid shapes. Dirk's sandblast gives the stummel a rich feel to the fingertips, leading back to a long, arced ferrule of a material which, per my research in the Smokingpipes archives, we have only seen Dirk and Dirk alone use as an accent wood in pipe making: lilac. Light in color and remarkably smooth in finish, the lilac holds a minutely bent saddle stem of vulcanite. The bowl is only a little over one inch in depth, but this pipe still manages to be quite substantial with a length of 6.84 inches, assisted by the generous helping of lilac behind the brief briar shank.