Smooth Billiard with Brushed Bronze Tobacco Pipe

Brazilian artisan Flávia Rodrigues began making pipes out of a need to be creative and received support in her endeavor from her partner and fellow countryman Gustavo Cunha of marTelo. Her influences include Tom Eltang, Paolo Becker, Hans "Former" Nielsen, and Chris Asteriou and she tends to make traditional shapes with Danish shaping cues and accent materials native to Brazil.

Flávia went with possibly the most traditional shape of all here but did so with great flair, crafting a Billiard with a tall, very lightly tapered bowl and striking cross grain and birdseye on the stummel, all of it finished smoothly and stained a dark mahogany hue. The shank is somewhat brief before yielding to a unique accent — brushed bronze, in this case. A sleek stem of vulcanite stretches back from a single expansion ring to give this piece a final length just under six inches. Substantial in size and appearance, this work of Flávia's represents a great effort to make one of the most common shapes in pipe making her own.