Bill Shalosky: Smooth Bent Dublin (468) Tobacco Pipe

Bill Shalosky excels at rendering classic shapes, deftly maintaining the form's defining characteristics while still imbuing each piece with his own distinct style. This bent Dublin serves as an excellent example, seamlessly blending organicism, traditionalism, and muscularity to deliver a cohesive piece with plenty of admirable elements. I particularly appreciate how the low, sweeping transition accentuates the bowl's visual prominence, while the bowl's forward canted disposition along with the rim's concave orientation helps create an implication of forward-urging momentum. Said bowl flares in traditional Dublin fashion, with beautiful tendrils of lively flame grain rising in concert with the bowl's flare before erupting into the craggy, dimpled plateau along the broad rim. The robust shank continues the bowl's heartiness, gently arcing upward before meeting the softly downturned saddle stem, its disc-shaped base mirroring the shank's subtle flare. The stem's base is also noticeably smaller in diameter in relation to the shank, effectively utilizing negative space to redirect attention to the stummel. And considering the stummel's stellar shaping and gorgeous grain, it was a wise choice.