Most pipes take a few seconds for their attributes to sink in before my admiration (or lack thereof) to become fully realized. This towering Todd Johnson Hoplite not only had me at “hello, Sailor”, I found myself trying to figure out what to pawn, in order to take it out to a fancy restaurant… .

Nick and I were discussing this incredible composition on the phone, and when he referred to it as a ‘Cutty’, I corrected with ‘Belge’, and proceeded to list all the subtle differences of the two. Nick’s reaction to my classification acumen was about on par to my wife’s, when she was startled by a possum in our garage and insisted that I kill the ‘rodent’; “Well hon, technically it’s not a rodent, they are classified as marsupials”. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be pedantic or anal.

I shared snaps of this masterpiece to a couple of highly regarded pipe artisans, and their reactions ranged from ‘SCHWING’, to ‘Amazing work’, right on to a declaration from one that this bowl possesses the finest shaping that they have seen in the milieu (ok, ‘milieu’ is my word, real men don’t use ‘melieu’, but you get the gist). Yes, the bowl is amazing and boasts a perfection of execution that is as perfect as it gets, on this side of the vale. Now take into consideration a total length that approaches ten and a half inches (all blessed with a heavenly grain) and the assuredly cool smoke this instrument will deliver. Todd Johnson is second to none, in matters concerning the discrete use of exquisite accessorizing materials, and the vintage Bakelite stem flanked by mastodon ivory that’s sported by this briar is the consummate finish.

Bear Graves