Sandblasted Bent Dublin Sitter (Swan) Tobacco Pipe

A few years ago (early 2000s), the small footprint sitter style, in a whole range of different shapes, was all the rage with American, and to a lesser degree, Danish, high grade artisinal pipe makers. While this isn't quite a throwback to that theme, it does remind me of pipes during that period. And, frankly, I still think the style is pretty cool and perfectly deserving of a little revival (but, like bell-bottoms, more subtle versions such as is presented here are better than the utterly insane proportions the style took in 2001 and 2002: "hey look, I got a 25" pipe with a 4" bowl to stand on a foot with diameter measured in microns!" Yes, like anything else, it is possible to have a surfeit of pipe sitting on a dearth of foot).

Alright, moving on. The fairly straightforward dublin shaped Danish-modern-style freehand bowl is complemented by, yes, a pretty cool foot on the bottom, not only making it possible that it stand, but also raising the body of the pipe off the table in a particularly cool levitating-pipe sort of way. The light sandblast, very much in the Danish style in that regard, complements the composition nicely as it highlights the excellent ring grain that runs around the bowl and up the length of the shank (and, yes, down its foot).

-- Sykes Wilford