Smooth Dublin with Bamboo (Kikuchi) (H) (012) (2023) Tobacco Pipe

Meaning "living flowers" and named in reference to Japan's lauded flower-arrangement art form, Tsuge's Ikebana workshop comprises three artisans who individually carve pipes under the Ikebana name. A similar, organic aesthetic often unites the workshop's pipes, regularly showcasing distinctively Japanese interpretations of Danish shapes, yet each carver retains their own personal design style, with this Dublin having been fashioned by Asami Kikuchi.

Much of Kikuchi's work is defined either by slender lines and svelte proportions or by compact robustness and gentle curvature. This Dublin is of that former variety, perfectly encapsulating the timeless shape-chart standard. It hearkens back to Dunhill's early, bamboo-accented Whangee pipes but with a much trimmer and more refined disposition: The bowl flares in concert with the briar's grain, and the demure portions of bamboo are wonderfully proportioned, transitioning naturally into a slender saddle stem of balanced length.