Misc. Estates: Doctor's Smooth Apple with Bamboo and Tulipwood (Double Flash) Tobacco Pipe

Roman Kovalev has led an eclectic life, with experiences including being a race car driver, distiller, distributor of high-quality Espresso products, and was a practicing pediatric neurologist for 16 years, which inspired the name Doctor's Pipes. Unsurprisingly, Kovalev's designs also embrace eccentricity, as he often incorporates one-of-a-kind accents into his pipes, such as mokume gane, dinosaur bone, and walrus tusk. Furthermore, Kovalev is primarily drawn to the work of Japanese carvers, so the arresting style of artisans like Hiroyuki Tokutomi and Kei-ichi Gotoh often inspire his creative pipe designs. Only a handful of pipe makers possess truly striking originality, and Kovalev can count himself among them.

This Apple by Doctor's features a rotund bowl that immediately draws one's eyes to the fore, its subtle forward-cant further accentuating the forward-urging dynamic. Furthermore, the bowl is dressed in an oak-hued smooth finish, rendering stunningly thin wisps of flame grain across the bowl's flanks. Additionally, a superbly tight transition and slim briar shank give way to a rugged bamboo shank, one of Kovalev's favorite accenting materials. The three protruding knuckles of the bamboo offer a tactile complement to the craggy sandblast, while the blonde hues brighten the composition and imbue it with an organic allure. The shank terminates at another accent, a trim Tulipwood band, which Kovalev carves to resemble the final knuckle of bamboo, seamlessly creating another subtle, natural flourish.