Sandblsated Chidori with Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

Named after a Japanese term meaning "thousand birds", I'm inclined to think this David Huber pipe was given its name based upon its resemblance to a bird in the midst of a loud and forceful squawk. A slightly forward-reaching, Egg-like bowl is thoroughly dressed in a well-defined ring grain, cascading across the flanks, leading the eye to a tightly-pinched transition and flaring, crescent-shaped shank, from which extends a rather modernist and streamlined saddle stem. From this perspective, the composition could also evoke the look of a rather hungry baby chick devouring a worm, or with its slim wafer accent of boxwood adorning the base of the arrow-straight saddle stem, possibly the ball of 'lightning-based chakra' released by characters of the Japanese manga series Naruto (also named Chidori, and admittedly the first thing I thought of). All in all, a remarkably imaginative offering from David Huber.

- Daniel Bumgardner