Design Berlin Rugen Green 9mm Straight Billiard 85045C

• Overall Length: 141mm
• Overall Height: 43mm
• Bowl Height: 43mm
• Bowl Diameter: 33mm
• Bore: 19mm
• Weight: 32g
• Filter: 9mm

Design Berlin Rügen Green 9mm Straight Billiard 85045C There's a reason the Straight Billiard has remained one of the most familiar shapes in pipe making for well over a century. It's a beautifully straightforward design, with an upright bowl, a straight shank and a mouthpiece that carries on in much the same direction. Get the proportions right and there's very little else required.

The Design Berlin Rügen Green 85045C takes this old favourite and gives it a rather splendid emerald-green finish.

The polished briar has a rich, almost bottle-green colour, with darker patches of natural grain running through the bowl and shank. The stain allows the wood's character to remain visible, producing a marbled appearance that is particularly noticeable around the rounded heel.

The bowl is a traditional Billiard, with nearly vertical sides, a flat rim and a gently curved underside. Its straight shank meets a long, tapered black mouthpiece, separated by a narrow silver-coloured band. A small gold DB emblem provides the finishing touch.

Design Berlin's history began in Berlin, although the company's pipes are now manufactured in Schweina, Thuringia, a region with its own longstanding pipe-making traditions. The Rügen collection takes its name from Germany's largest island, situated in the Baltic Sea.

This model accepts 9mm filters, making it a familiar arrangement for smokers accustomed to German filter pipes.

I particularly like the contrast between the vivid green briar and the restrained black mouthpiece. The shape is thoroughly traditional, yet the colour gives it a personality quite different from the usual walnut and mahogany finishes.

And being a Straight Billiard, it sits comfortably among the great classics of pipe design. There's no complicated shaping to distract from the briar itself. A handsome green pipe, certainly. Although I'd recommend keeping it away from the Christmas decorations, or somebody might mistake it for part of the festive greenery.