Sabina Santos Sandblasted Bulldog Calabash with Spalted Tamarind Tobacco Pipe

Sabina Santos is one of Portugal's few artisan pipe makers, and even among her peers, she boasts a unique, refined style marked by balanced shaping, expert engineering, and handsome finish work. Featuring a removable cap of spalted tamarind, this Bulldog Calabash is a fitting testament to Santos' skill at using not just briar, but other, less conventional materials as well, and in unique ways. In terms of shaping, there's a pleasing sense of proportional balance throughout the composition, as well as an easy sense of fluidity that ensures comfort both in the hand and the palate. As for the finish work on this piece, there is a satisfying juxtaposition between the light, smooth spalted tamarind and the dark, sandblasted briar; this juxtaposition also draws attention to the excellent shaping of the two disparate materials that come together here to be greater than the sum of their parts.