Alexander Tupitsyn: Sandblasted Bent Apple with Cocobolo Tobacco Pipe

Alexander Tupitsyn's shaping style is often described within the context of the St. Petersburg pipe design aesthetic, a design tradition that mostly encompasses the work of Vladimir Grechukhin and the carvers he's mentored over the years and whose styles share similarities to his own. Tupitsyn is one such pipe maker, and his shapes often cater to the St. Petersburg school's prioritization of plump curves, muscular proportions, and compact dimensions.

This bent Apple is an excellent introduction to that style. It's under five inches in length, yet still offers a robust, palm-filling bowl, almost completely spherical. The shank's diminution in profile accentuates the bowl's plumpness, but when viewed from above, its broad shaping matches the rest of the stummel's muscularity. Dressed in a concise sandblast and subtle contrast stain of rich, chocolate hues, the stummel features a shank-end accent of cocobolo wood, its natural, mahogany hue matching the smooth-polished rim and the subtle, lighter tones of the stain.