Misc. Estates: Stephen Downie Smooth Volcano (S313) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Stephen Downie is a Canadian artisan with a penchant for carving angular pipes that feature sweeping curvature. Furthermore, Downie is a man with a great appreciation for and talent in the realm of sculpture, selling his artistic work alongside his pipes, with a great degree of overlap between the two, often carving pipes that could easily fit in with his standalone sculpture pieces. This is a striking interpretation of the Volcano shape, one which is perfectly at home in Downie's profile and which does well to showcase his expressive style of carving. A broad base supports the bowl here, its outline coming to a point on the aft side of the left flank, with a firm ridgeline surrounding the surface area here and continuing through into the pointed area. The entirety of this base's surface is covered in dense plateau across the underside, infusing the pipe with a unique organicism which highlights the presence of the composition's fore. The walls of this bowl take on a swift, dramatic taper from out of this broad base, and they terminate in a dramatically forward-slanting rim which is slanted into the chamber and rises to a peak at the aft: this peak marked with a point where the ridge at the underside reaches through the aft wall to meet the rim. A wide transition here gives way to a remarkably high-set shank that is, too, lined on the left with a ridge, and whose short length is met with a four-piece accent of dark wood and pale white material. This accent acts as the junction to a gracefully curved stem of cumberland that offers a comfortable smoking posture and complements the warm mahogany stain of the briar.