Misc. Estates: Sam Cui Smooth Cherrywood with Bamboo (2017) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Chinese artisan Sam Cui has always been inspired by the natural world and nature's organic forms, focusing on these aspects of his surroundings in his photography, and imbuing the aesthetics of his pipe-making style with the same. Cui often crafts pipes of an impressively compact stature, and this Cherrywood is an excellent example of that fashion, coming in at well under five inches long and encroaching on Nosewarmer territory. This is an impressively dynamic and vertical rendition of the usually more practically-oriented shape, with a silhouette that's reminiscent of both the Ballerina and the bent Dublin. The bowl here stands atop a flattened heel that supports the entire pipe, allowing it to sit stably on a flat surface, and it grows walls that flare out toward an ovoid rim crowned with craggy plateau. These walls take on a curling stance and urge forward organically, immediately reminiscent of the aforementioned Bo Nordh shape, with a slight lip at the fore wall and a humped shape at the aft. The transition is tight and raised to a mid-set position, giving way to a short shank capped with a stretch of pale bamboo. This extension comprises two knuckles of the dense grass, and Cui has emphasized its organic style by extending a pair of divots through the briar and stem at the underside. What's more, two of the knuckles' largest nodes are accented with a black, lacquer-like material whose tones match the black vulcanite of the pipe's stem. The base of this stem is shaped into a sharp-lined expansion ring whose flare stylistically matches the rhythm of the bamboo and further enhances the organic aspects of this pipe, while its bit forms a slim saddle with a smart downturn. Dressed in a light, honeyed, smooth finish, the stummel showcases handsome grain throughout, with streaks of flame following the shape of the bowl from heel to rim.