American Estates: Rich Lewis Smooth Bent Dublin (984) Tobacco Pipe

The owner and proprietor of the Lewis Tobacco shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a family business since 1969, Rich Lewis is a prolific pipe repairman and a talented carver as well, producing pieces in a singular style that incorporates inspiration from around the world. This bent Dublin, for example, is quite a dramatically stylized imagining of the shape with a dose of Danish shaping that sees both the bowl and shank take on matching flares. The shank, however, has the additional benefit of being carved with a rhythmic series of three expansions at the middle, reminiscent, but not evocative, of bamboo's knuckles. As it nears the end, we see the shank take on the aforementioned flare, curving slightly upward and blooming into a face that is covered completely with craggy plateau. From out of this face arcs a playfully shaped saddle stem whose base is adorned with its own expansions, furthering the firmness of the pipe's aft side and making for a cohesive combination of the two elements despite the stem's visual separation from the shank. Thanks to the shank's singular styling, the transition looks rather pinched, but its wideness allows for the easy draping of a thumb as it flow into the bowl. This bowl sits proudly atop a rounded, pronounced heel that dips below the shank, the walls growing to over two inches tall and taking on a steady flare to the plateau-crowned rim. Both areas of plateau here are stained a deep, dark, inky chestnut hue, while the rest of the briar is dressed in a warm mahogany stain that reveals handsome flame grain throughout its expanse.