Smooth Bent Brandy (Kikuchi) (G) (022) Tobacco Pipe

When it comes to her Brandy, Apple, and Acorn shapes, diminutive, compact, and wonderfully rounded are all terms that accurately describe Asami Kikuchi's body of work. It's a simple matter of putting extra substance where it counts, keeping the lines of the form clean and minimalist, and making sure everything works in perfect balance. So I guess it's not a simple matter at all, that trifecta being quite a difficult feat to accomplish. Yet Asami does it... time and time again, realizing her vision into these wonderfully compact, charming briars with such grace and balance that once you pick one up, you'll never want to put it down again. That's just what we see here in this bent Brandy, featuring a broad, low-set waistline, pinched along the vertical axis, with an abbreviated, subtly flaring shank for just a touch of dynamism. Just a beautiful form, not to mention a beautifully grained pipe.

- Andrew Wike