Grechukhin: Sandblasted Bent Egg with Black Palm Tobacco Pipe

Vladimir Grechukhin does an extraordinary job when it comes to crafting compact shapes that manage to combine powerful lines and proportions with a graceful sense of gesture and stance. This muscular bent Egg from the Russian master displays those qualities perfectly, the compressed oval shank further emphasizing the bowl's powerful, dynamic stance in profile. The low-set transition accentuates the bowl's visual prominence, creating cheeking at the lower flanks to maintain the bowl's curvaceous character.

The sandblasted finish makes the bowl even more enticing and irresistible in hand, coaxing out consistent waves of ring grain all around the canted bowl while the innermost portion of the rim is chamfered and left smooth. The stummel's smoldering contrast stain showcases the nuances of the briar's grain with its mix of burnt orange and rust red hues. An accent of black palm adorns the shank end and displays some visually captivating grain of its own, featuring streaks of grain that transition into a dotted, leopard pattern at the shank face. This piece readily demonstrates Vladimir's skillful shaping and expert finishing techniques.