English Estates: Askwith Sandblasted Bent Bulldog (2013) Tobacco Pipe

A silversmith by trade, Chris Askwith's journey into pipe making began, as many do, with his own smoking, taking up the pipe in 2006 and using his myriad of tools to restore estate pipes for his own use. In 2007, Askwith joined a pipe club where, by chance, he was afforded the opportunity to make his own smoking instruments using another member's tools. The money he earned from selling these pieces was used to outfit his own workshop with tools better suited to pipe making, and now Chris fashions handmade pipes full-time. Chris Askwith has presented us with quite a different bent Bulldog shape here. Normally a very firm, muscular, and slightly rigid design, Chris has turned this stereotype thoroughly on its head — keeping the form's inherent architectural lines along the waistline, taper, and shank, but elongating the stem and de-emphasizing its S-curve to produce a gently sinuous, almost trailing effect in profile. It's not a small pipe by any means, but it does provide a graceful silhouette because of this balance. Dressing the stummel here is a crisp tanblast that reveals handsome grain throughout, with rippling ring grain cascading down the lower bowl, while the rim is peppered with birdseye.