J. Mouton Tanblast Tomato w/ Ox Horn & Brass Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

Born and raised in the small town of Gueydan, Louisana, Jason Mouton’s rise in the ranks of American pipe makers has been nothing less than meteoric—and for good reason. Having crafted duck calls since he was a teenager, Mouton’s first forays into pipe making began with carving tampers. Mouton’s unexpected and substantial successes with these handmade tampers encouraged and allowed him to purchase the equipment needed to create pipes themselves. Studying the works of renowned American artisans such as J. Alan, Grant Batson, and Jared Coles, Mouton gradually developed his own pipe making craft, which was furthered by his exchanges with Greek artisan Chris Asteriou. Today, Mouton’s works are some of the most sought after on the artisan market, a demand which he has responded to—and not unlike his beginnings in carving tampers—by reinvesting his successes into an unwavering advancement of his skills and technique.

In contrast to their traditional ancestors, the modern “squat” shapes, like the tomato, are by no means easy to pull off. There is a great risk of the pipe ending up seeming “deflated” or malformed, especially when choosing how to get from a plump, wide bowl to an inevitably far narrower, thinner mouthpiece. In other words, a central problem is one of proportions between the different sections and materials of pipe when viewed as a whole.
But it is solvable, and it’s solvable in many different ways. From the Ukulele designs of Sixten Ivarsson, to the Eskimo, or Inuit, pipes popularized by Tom Eltang, to the ever boundary-pushing creations of Roman Kovalev and his Doctor’s Pipes, it has been proven that an uncommonly squat bowl is no obstacle to a good pipe. The same is true here with this tan sandblasted, squat tomato from J. Mouton. Despite its significant breadth, Mouton’s design comes across as natural and well-balanced, evoking both Ivarsson’s aforementioned Ukulele and the popular 320 KS author shape from Savinelli.

 

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.00″ / 25.40mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g