Smooth Acorn with Silver Ring 3606 Tobacco Pipe

Sykes and I were chatting casually in his office the other day, talking about the famous Danish shaping evolution. Started with Sixten, and the continued through the pantheon of legendary carvers. At the end, we concluded (among other things) that it must be really cool to be Lars Ivarsson. For starters, one would be hard pressed to find a Dane carving today who wasn't influenced in some way by Lars. Tougher still would be finding a (now) classic Danish shape that he did not have some hand in refining through his personal work. Let's face it, when a pipe is held up, no matter who the carver was, and a common reaction is "Oh, that's Lars's shape", you are a big dog on the block. The shape before you is a great example. Universally recognized, and variations produced by other carvers in Japan, the Americas, and Europe. this is basically a "Lars shape". The acorn bowl is softly rounded and the heel seems almost suspended by a perfectly juxtaposed shank. The slight preponderance of briar on the fore if the rim, the long, subtly flaring shank, the previously mentioned juxtaposition of the shank and bowl, all add a quietly organic quality that has become so associated with this master.

--Bear Graves