Sandblasted Tomato with Bamboo Tobacco Pipe

Cornelius Mänz carved his first pipe on his 30th birthday from a pre-drilled block. A few years later, he was crafting superb pipes from the highest-quality materials. Although he is a German pipe maker, Mänz is heavily inspired by the Danish school, primarily the work of Jess Chonowitsch and the S. Bang workshop. Furthermore, Mänz draws on the natural world to inform his pipe designs, often embracing gestural shapes and organic accents. All of Mänz's pipes are exclusively shaped on sanding disks and belt sanders, and his stem work is second-to-none; few pipe makers can claim to engineer their pipes as well as Mänz.

This Tomato by Cornelius Mänz possesses the shape's traditionally plump bowl, with the robust waistline showcasing an exquisitely circular cross section. The shank descends out of the bottom of the bowl, with the underside forming a curve that extends seamlessly out of the fore and the aft exhibiting some subtle cheeking. Said shank quickly tapers, joining to a sinuous strip of bamboo that rises upward, continuing the underside's curvature with a few rugged flourishes at the knuckles. The jet-black vulcanite stem joins to the bamboo shank via a metal tenon, offering increased durability. Furthermore, the stem demurely bends back downward, with the slightly upturned bit being perfectly parallel to the bowl's rim — a sign of Mänz' incredible engineering.

Said bowl is dressed in a rugged sandblast, highlighting detailed, concentric growth rings that radiate outward from the subtle heel to the plump waistline. From there, the upper domed bowl showcases pockmarks of birdseye, creating a particularly craggy surface for one's fingers to explore. The sandblast is stained a dark walnut hue with a few chestnut outcroppings peaking through, resulting in an organic appeal. The cool tones of the stummel complement the jet-black vulcanite stem, but they are separated by the bamboo shank, where the blonde colors of the organic material mingle with the black striations that stretch between the rugged knuckles, further enhancing the palpable natural essence of the composition.