Sandblasted Bent Dublin Tobacco Pipe

Although known ordinarily for his more exotic, alluring, and altogether different forms, or perhaps for his signature Calla Lilly, Alex Florov's latest offering, this wide-set, powerful, and relatively compact blasted bent Dublin, is no less true to course in elegance and design for the model-maker turned-pipe-carver. As always, here Alex demonstrates his total command over the briar, offering precisely tuned nuances, for instance, in the form of an ever-so pinched seam the runs the length of the composition on the piece's left side. And in a world abundant of pipes that seem to want to "show off" their rim's plateau (and just as often plateau at the shank face), in this instance, certainly on account of the carver's diligent and skillful handling of the medium, stain, and finish, there's bouquet of plateau that's both interesting and divine.

-- Ted Swearingen