Smooth Fish (0119) Tobacco Pipe

If the pipesmoking world is the ocean floor, then pieces by Kei-ichi Gotoh are pearls: incredibly few and far between and masterfully beautiful, stunning examples of craftsmanship. The Japanese carver often riffs off of the Danish tradition of high grade pipemaking and the Japanese school's penchant for organic, fluid shaping, producing pieces that juxtapose hard and soft lines while at the same time creating a wholly complete and consistent aesthetic.

In this piece, Gotoh offers a rendition of Ivarsson's Fish design, the shape's defining teardrop shank and bulbous bowl evident but everything else from proportions to orientation being solely born out of the carver's creativity. Though only about five inches in overall length, this is not a small piece in the slightest. Weighing over 100 grams, it's a handful of briar, imbued with supple curves and soft lines throughout its forward-urging posture and consistent curl of the underside. At the shank, Gotoh has inverted the traditional orientation of the teardrop line — positioning more at the topside rather than underneath. It lends the shank end a more upward-flicking profile, kissed with plateau at the pointed shank face.

The grain here creates a sort of optical illusion, making the bowl seem asymmetrical. Though the bowl is equally rounded at each flank, the band of cross grain the meanders and curves through the middle gives the impression that Gotoh has shaped the bowl with subtle doses of asymmetry. It's a stunning use of grain to imply a sense of shaping that in reality isn't present. Elsewhere, the left flank is absolutely studded with tight whorls of birdseye, sure to captivate your attention for years to come. All dressed in a smoky, walnut contrast stain, this piece is a surefire centerpiece to any collection.