American Estates: Maigurs Knets Sandblasted Rhodesian with Amboyna Burl (376) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Latvian born Maigurs Knets grew up with art, drawing and sculpting for much of his childhood and, though he had found other hobbies, art has remained his passion throughout his life. After service as a border guard, he enrolled in art college, earning degrees in Antique Furniture Restoration, Wood Carving, and Sculpting, after which point he emigrated to the United states in 1990. After arriving, he found work as a modeler for the toy, industrial design, and hobby sectors, finding success, though not able to express his artistic inclination for 20 years. Through pipes, however, he found his passion rekindled, stoked into a blaze which finds him creating sculptural works of functional art that are innovative, beautiful, and smoke excellently.

This Rhodesian is one of the most striking pipes we've ever received from Knets, being an extremely subdued profile that's far from his more prevalent sculptural works. Rather, this offering is a compact, travel-friendly take on an age-old shape chart archetype that showcases Knets' unique style in more subtle ways. A wide transition here leaves plenty of room to drape a digit and gives way to a trim shank that's met by a broad accent of amboyna burl, the accent flanked by a pair of black vulcanite rings. Paired to the stummel here is a demurely curved saddle stem of matching black vulcanite, its base showcasing a step down in thickness that creates an area of visual intrigue near the aft side and pulling some of the visual weight away from the bowl. Said bowl stands atop a rounded, sweeping heel and grows flaring walls that expand outward to a high-set waist marked with a firm ridgeline, the form's subsequent taper to the rim here marked with a slight hollow carving near the edge of the ridge. This detail enhances the presence of the taper, pulling the eye toward the fore and guiding it toward a pattern of ginkgo leaves that round the briar's diminution: their smooth surfaces standing out against the crisp sandblast which dresses the rest of the stummel.