Smooth Bent Dublin with Tooth and Black Palm (Viking) Tobacco Pipe

Smokingpipes.com has been carrying the works of Tonni Nielsen for close to twelve years at this point, which means we've seen a fair number of even his ultimate Viking grade. I mention that because as far as our archives show, this is the only case of a Viking coming our way in so pale a finish: a contrast so light as to be one step away from virgin briar. Tonni, for the record, has long shown plenty of variation in the stains used for his Viking grade pipes, so we have seen everything else from golden-blonde, to dark and subdued, to bold bengal-style contrasts.

The effect of this paler finish is interesting, visually "adding lightness" to what is, fundamentally, quite a meaty bent Dublin design composed largely of broad, continuous lines and firmly rounded contours. This sort of aesthetic contrast of the "light" and the "heavy" can also be found in the partial plateau of the rim, where the narrow band of crisp, recessed texture plays the "light", and the rim's overall breadth and firmly rounded edges (both inner and outer) plays "heavy". Then there is, of course, the obvious contrast between a slender modified-saddle stem and the stout shank it sprouts out of, which likely would have been too strong if Tonni hadn't chosen the right buffer/visual break — a composite, organic accent of the bold and dark and the pale and smooth.

- Eric N. Squires