Sandblasted Bent Apple (Ohi) (F) Tobacco Pipe

Yoshirou Ohi's background includes long experience in the manufacture of precision automobile parts as well as in pipemaking, resulting in a personal approach that combines a lot of asymmetric, organic dynamism with an eye for exactness. That having been said, out of the first Ohi-made Ikebanas to come our way, this one stands out for playing the most strongly towards naturalistic elements. The easy ergonomics in hand, the fine, beveled band of smooth briar at the inner rim, the complex, undulating stem-base and the shank-end it echoes; these are all rendered with a clear attention to neatness and detail, yet overall the shape's aesthetic really runs with creating the sort of form that brings to mind the unpredictable turns of a knot-jointed old cherry tree branch. even while maintaining an exact balance in the asymmetry of the cross-section.

- Eric N. Squires