In Hidden Features of Java the top answer mentions Double Brace Initialization, with a very enticing syntax:
Set flavors = new HashSet
To create sets you can use a varargs factory method instead of double-brace initialisation:
public static Set setOf(T ... elements) {
return new HashSet(Arrays.asList(elements));
}
The Google Collections library has lots of convenience methods like this, as well as loads of other useful functionality.
As for the idiom's obscurity, I encounter it and use it in production code all the time. I'd be more concerned about programmers who get confused by the idiom being allowed to write production code.