Grechukhin: Smooth Bent Egg with Bamboo Tobacco Pipe

Bamboo has been fairly commonplace in pipe making since the 1940s when it was used as a means of saving briar during WWII — the tumult of war making it difficult to source briar for many makers across Europe. Dunhill's "Whangee" pipes are iconic examples of this early style of bamboo, and while the material has maintained steady prominence in the craft, its style has evolved over the years. Early on, pipe makers opted for straight, "perfect" sections of bamboo, hoping to as closely match the lines and profile of all-briar pipes but with the addition of bamboo. Since then, though, artisan carvers have experimented with more eccentric, non-standard bamboo sections, adding wild lines and organic asymmetry to pipe designs, and this bent Egg from Vladimir Grechukhin fits into that more modern, innovative aesthetic.

The bamboo utilized on this pipe is anything but uniform: The form is dramatically long, doubling this pipe's length, and the knuckles aren't evenly spaced; instead, they become more and more tight-knit as they approach the stem — the stem base continuing the expansion and rhythm — and simultaneously taper toward the bowl. Such tapering lines gradually guide one's eyes toward the bowl, which is plumply rounded and combines elements of both the Egg and Acorn shapes. Like an Egg, it tapers in rounded fashion toward the heel and rim, but the underside features a flattened section of craggy plateau that, in profile, creates a spur-like motif, similar to that of an Acorn. The texture of the plateau along the heel echoes the rugged bamboo knuckles, and the pale palette of the bamboo offers handsome contrast against the stummel's rich, auburn stain.