Smooth Tomato with Black and White Ebony (Cardinal) (A18) (11) Tobacco Pipe

A relatively handy Tomato shape, this pipe from Jody Davis might be my personal favorite from today's selection of his briars. There's something about the combination of solid mass and lively implied energy imbued to the shaping of the bowl up front, especially in combination with the short-throw oval shank and accompanying saddle bit. There's a gentle, almost bottom-heavy sense of curve and recurve to the bowl's flanks, resulting in the lightest impression of a "lip" of sorts to the bowl's rim, the likes of which are kissed with a delicate ring of lovely birdseye. Licks of tightly-oriented flame dance on all flanks, accentuated by a vibrant contrast, and complemented by the composite stem arrangement— a handsome, almost iridescent black and white ebony inset with jet-black vulcanite. Really cool work.