Doctor's: Smooth Tomato with Bamboo and Boxwood (1417) (Extra Grand Flash) (with Tamper) Tobacco Pipe

Russian carver Roman Kovalev came to artisan pipe making with the same drive and determination that led to his success as a race car builder, distillery owner, and pediatric neurologist. Before starting Doctor's Pipes, aptly named as a nod to one of his former careers, Kovalev was simply a passionate collector and hobbyist who smoked hundreds of different pipes from artisans around the world. His thorough examination of a diverse range of pipes, with their varying shaping styles, finishes, and smoking qualities, inspired Kovalev to undertake the craft for himself. This Tomato is a fetching showcase of Kovalev's unique style, which prioritizes compact shapes embellished with organic accenting materials, specifically bamboo.

Bamboo has been utilized in pipe making for decades, but the purpose of its use has evolved over the years. During World War 2, when bamboo first came into prominence, the material was a means of extending shanks and rationing briar, which was in short supply, with most of the world's trade lines disrupted. In the years following World War 2, with the rise of the artisan pipe-making movement, bamboo became an aesthetic part of the pipe, not just a practical one, leading to experimentation and a focus on how the dense grass complements or functions within the totality of a given composition. Kovalev has also had an eye for bamboo, preferring and utilizing craggy, nonuniform sections of the material that other carvers would neglect. The bamboo seen in this Tomato is of that nonuniform variety, its nodes asymmetrical, gnarly, and topped by a face of boxwood.

Proportionally, this piece favors the bowl, a large mass of briar that overshadows the comparatively trim shank-and-stem arrangement out back. Said bowl is squat and broad, its walls arcing from heel to rim and producing a wide, bulging waistline and a wealth of supple curves. The bowl's soft, rounded contours are contrasted by the bamboo's rugged texture, though the material's coloration complements the pipe's overall palette. A warm, glossy smooth finish dresses the ensemble and highlights stunning flame grain across the bowl's flanks anddense clusters of birdseye along the heel. Stamped "Extra Grand Flash," this piece has earned one of Kovalev's highest grades, placing it among the upper echelons of the artisan's portfolio, a placement it has doubtlessly earned. Additionally, this piece comes included with a tamper, appropriately one fashioned from gnarled bamboo.