Joe Skoda Cracked Shell Rusticated Bent Apple (2111) Tobacco Pipe

Hudson Valley-based artisan Joe Skoda spent years in woodworking before he gravitated toward pipes, starting out with cabinetry and ship models. An encounter with an issue of Pipes and tobaccos magazine in 1996 persuaded Joe that pipes should be his next pursuit, and he has since made it his goal to make the same shape as rarely as possible in appreciation of the diversity of the world around him. Joe's pipes are numbered to reflect the year in which they were made and the order in which they were made; this pipe, numbered 2111, is therefore the eleventh pipe Joe made in 2021.

Joe appropriately termed the rusticated finish of this bent Apple "Cracked Shell," reflecting the straight lines and small pieces of smooth briar reflected through the stain that appear similar to the shell of a cracked egg. The bottom of the well-rounded bowl is detached from the muscular shank, which shares the bowl's warm mahogany hue and rustication and backs up to a vulcanite saddle stem, which bends only lightly from the shoulders on its way to the bit. Put together, Joe's partially detached bowl and fascinating rustication easily fulfill his mission not to make the same shape twice.