Tsuge "Discus" Grade H--Unsmoked!

Tsuge "Discus" Grade H--Unsmoked!
Mr. Fukuda, who carved this pipe, was a student of Sixten and Lars Ivarsson, having been sent by his company to learn how to make high grade pipes by hand. In the Japanese tradition, copying the works of masters is not regarded as plagiarism but rather as a sign of the utmost respect--an homage. So here, Mr. Fukuda has created an homage to one of Lars Ivarsson's most famous pieces, a "Fish" grade example, his highest. Lars carved it in 1974, and called the original a "Discus," a variation on his better known Blowfish. The discus is also an aquarium fish, but has a more flattened profile--and so too the eponymous pipe. I saw the original in Chicago last May, and it sold for over $7500.

The Fukuda variation, like Discus I, represents a kind of poem of lines, curves and planes, deliberately asymmetrical about the long axis. The overall shape both dynamic and surprisingly coherent in its complexity. It is cut across the grain of a superb piece of Corsican briar, and both "faces" are covered with dense fields of birdseye, whle the circumferential band running along the top and bottom of the shank is transverse straight grain. The quality of briar, design, finish and internal engineering of this pipe are all impeccable in the best Ivarsson (and Fukuda) tradition. All in all, it surpasses my not inconsiderable vocabulary of superlatives. The only design issue I can find is at the end of the shank, which is perhaps less graceful than one might have liked.

The "Discus II" is in perfect, unsmoked condition, and carried an original retail price of $1500, in itself reasonable. The present price, while not trivial by any means, still represents a very special value.