Alexander Tupitsyn: Partially Sandblasted Rhodesian with Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

Long and low, lovely and lithesome, this broad Rhodesian from Alexander Tupitsyn offers both dramatically smooth texture and deep, tactile sandblasting for a composition combining smooth curves and inherent architectural structure. The Rhodesian shape is creatively rendered here, with its broad, disc-like rim in a domed aspect above the crisp beadlines, while a darker stain accompanies the sandblasted surface of the lower stummel for a duo-tone presentation.

The shank is oval and upwardly curving, subtly expanding in width as it reaches to the stem, which is accented at its base by an elegant band of pale boxwood. The saddle mouthpiece offers little visual weight, acting to redirect attention to the stummel, where all the action is. This piece is a happy combination of careful curvature and structured angles, tactile sandblasting and smooth, grain-elevating smoothness, and the artistic employment of geometric ovals, rings, circles, ridges, and tapers in the presentation of an overall organic disposition with all the gradual curves and smooth slopes that make pipe appreciation such a fascinating pursuit.