Alexander Tupitsyn: Smooth Bent Billiard with Silver Tobacco Pipe

When Alexander Tupitsyn fashions a bent pipe, the Russian carver most often renders as minimal of a bend as possible, typically no deeper than one-eighth. This bent Billiard, then, with its almost one-half bend, is a welcome and surprising addition to his portfolio. Overall, the shape hearkens to Dunhill's iconic "LC" bent Billiard, which has become famous for its "swan-neck" shank-and-stem combination, the transition stretched for an elongated, even more sinuous S-curve. The traditional "LC" accentuated this aspect further with a stem that bent down beyond the rim's horizontal plane, but Tupitsyn has minimized that aesthetic, keeping the bit parallel to the rim for compositional balance.

Though celebrating the "LC" design in this pipe's gesture, the stummel very much aligns with Alexander's typical shaping style: Having honed his craft underneath the tutelage of Vladimir Grechukhin, Tupitsyn's style often incorporates aspects associated with Grechukhin and the St. Petersburg design school, namely compact proportions, plump curvature, and a good degree of muscularity. Such is the case with this bent Billiard. The bowl is more rounded, the base more voluptuous, with cheeking initiated from the defined transition, and the shank matches that robust aesthetic, yet the rim doesn't continue that curvature, being completely flat for accenting firmness. It's all dressed in a smooth, chestnut finish, matched by a cumberland stem and accented by a trim ring of sterling silver, whose slender nature streamlines the overall composition. This is a beautiful, practical pipe of compact, lightweight nature that deftly joins vintage English style with Tupitsyn's personal aesthetic vision.