American Estates: J.T. Cooke Sandblasted Cherrywood (2000) Tobacco Pipe

There are few artisans out there that can boast a sandblast as incredible as J.T. Cooke's, and this comes well deserved, as it is the result of many years of experimentation and tweaking that's led to a five-stage blasting process which takes as long as 25 hours per pipe to complete. The end result is nothing short of stunning, with dense ripples of perfectly aligned ring grain cascading down the bowls of pipes that he's made which include it, one of which is this Cherrywood. This is actually one of very few Cherrywood examples we've seen from Cooke, and is his earliest sandblasted example of the shape as it comes to us from the year 2000, and appropriately showcases an earlier iteration of his famous sandblast. That being said, its blast is extremely impressive, and Cooke's eye for grain sees those ripples of ring grain oriented exactly as they should be: draping the bowl with concentric undulations that provide a feast of texture for both the eyes and fingers.

I really like the shaping of this pipe, and it's safe to say that this style of Cherrywood is undoubtedly my favorite of them all, as it presents with a dynamic and momentum-filled forward urge that draws the eye. This is mainly concentrated at the bowl, which works to the shape's advantage in keeping you focused on the grain, but also leaves you gazing at the dramatic, Dublin-esque flare from the flattened, sure-sitting heel to the rim. This flare keeps things quite comfortable in the hand, working in concert with the wide transition to allow for a thumb to wrap around it easily. Despite how wide this transition is, the shank is strikingly sinuous, curling up as it ebbs forward and flaring as it does and flaring to meet the base of the stem which continues the flare. Said stem is one of Cooke's hand-poured acrylic affairs, the process extremely time consuming and difficult, but resulting in stems that are extremely comfortable while still remaining lively. The marbled black and white of this stem offers some handsome contrast against the inky stain of the sandblast, while the smooth nomenclature panel and band of briar at the shank end lend some textural intrigue.