Handmade Smooth Acorn (AAA) Tobacco Pipe

Bruno Nuttens' stylistic range is impressive, admirably crafting pipes of many different styles, creating both serially-made works meant for everyday use and high-quality artisan pieces made entirely by hand. This Acorn is part of his Handmade line, and it showcases an understated silhouette that's both expressive and reserved in its curvature. The transition here is wide, and it gives way to a flaring shank that lifts as it expands, reaching a sleekly tapering stem of black vulcanite whose base is larger than its bit, creating a silhouette that naturally draws the eye toward the aft side: balancing the bowl's visual weight rather well. Up front, said bowl stands atop a firm, sharp heel defined by a single ridgeline at the underside, giving way to walls that flare out rather reservedly to a high-set waist and a domed rim while offering plenty of curvature for a comfortable feel in hand. Dressed in a warm, smooth finish, the stummel showcases handsome grain throughout, with flame grain wrapping the bowl and birdseye peppering the rim: the display good enough to have earned this pipe the vaunted AAA grade.