Smooth Bent Cubist Dublin with Mazur (Butterfly) Tobacco Pipe

Kent Rasmussen withholds the "Butterfly" stamp on all but what he considers his most exquisite pieces. Those pipes that bear the butterfly stamp possess shape and grain qualities far beyond most of his production and Kent's productions are universally stunning.

The Butterfly grade before you is a bent dublin, but to compare this piece with most others of that title would be akin to lumping an eagle in with a pigeon. Sure same general category and some shared characteristics, but one is far more rare and awe inspiring. This Kent butterfly shares much commonality with the body of his work. The lines of this pipe are strong and clean. The pipe, in its entirety, emphasizes the edge over the plane, the terminus of all of the beveling stands out in stark relief against the softer swells and troughs that comprise the rest of the body. In all the pipe world, would there be a better candidate to attack the challenge of a cubist dublin than Kent Rasmussen?! I don't use the term "cubist" lightly. Much like the later work of Pablo Picasso, the critical form that would be observed if one could stand to the front of the subject, is superimposed on the lateral view (or, in the case of this composition, the rim view). Anchoring this decidedly "nonobjective school" bowl is one of Kent's signature shank forms and mazur birch inlay bits. The number of superlatives that could be used to describe quality of the grain would strain the capabilities of any thesaurus. There is an old speculation on whether the flutter of a butterfly's wing could initiate a hurricane. I now believe the answer is "yes".

--Bear Graves