Tom Eltang here does an elegant job transforming a gorgeous bent Dublin shape into a rather sturdy and utterly dependable sitter by creating a foot on either side of the bowl that simply flows out from the bottom of the composition in a graceful, natural manner (the weight of the pipe rests on its shank while sitting).
With this, Tom simultaneously nods in the direction of the old Walrus shape (a Sven Knudsen mainstay) and fits the shape to one of the coolest, weirdest grain patterns I've ever seen. Grain doesn't normally flow that way and it's pretty impressive that Tom could do something so interesting with it.
From the profile, the piece doesn't appear to wear these feet, instead the bowl reads as if it were shaped with a pointed heel, a design element quite accustomed to various Dublin forms. As we might expect of one of Tom Eltang's Snail-graded pipes, the grain here is marvelous, particularly around the anterior side of the bowl and most especially the bird's eye grain around the rim. Seriously, I could gaze at the deep swirls of grain atop this bowl forever.
-- Ted Swearingen
