Alveare Fantasy Freehand with Silver Tobacco Pipe

Alveare is Italian for "beehive" or "hive" and is quite the appropriate name for Ardor's newest carved finish. In some ways, it's like a horizontal (or vertical in other cases) version of the squared pattern on the Meteora finish: the combination of lines, etchings and quasi-smooth areas all seem to echo that long-standing Ardor finish. But, the result is completely different, since the focus isn't on little patterned squares and rectangles and instead runs around the bowl and shank.

From the modified D-shaped, curving shank to the wide-oval shaped bowl (the outside of the bowl is wider side to side than it is front to back), Ardor has incorporated a number of stylistic flourishes at once here. I particularly like the variegated cream colored stem and shank cap, complete with silver ring, in combination with the light stained bowl.

-- Sykes Wilford