Bill Shalosky: Sandblasted Cherrywood with Boxwood (478) Tobacco Pipe

This is the first of this shape we've received from Bill Shalosky, as far as I can find in the archives. However, it certainly isn't a spontaneous shape choice; there was a lot of thought put into it. Note the forward curling bowl, for example, with its far flank dramatically curved and its lines bisecting the growth rings at 90 degrees. The rim expands dramatically, taking advantage of the gorgeous spread of plateau, which is contrasted by a generously wide, smooth bevel around the tobacco chamber. The shank expands from a well-defined transition in echo of the flare of the bowl and ends at a smooth ring of boxwood. The base of the stem again echoes the shaping of the bowl and the shank as it widens immediately to a stylized expansion ring, after which the stem flattens for a particularly emphatic saddle configuration. Just a hint of flare from the waist to the flattened heel implies yet another echo of the theme in this impressive Cherrywood.