Partially Sandblasted Volcano with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Lv Zelong started smoking pipes as a hobby before taking up pipe making, eventually studying under Ping Zhan and Lan Zhenjun. Both of Zelong's fellow Chinese artisans remain major influences on his work, as do Tom Eltang and other Danish masters. Form and function consistently go hand-in-hand in Zelong's work, including this Volcano.

Zelong gave the stummel a light sandblast to texture the brilliant flame grain and bring out the contrasting ring grain, a perfect choice when paired with the glossy, light mahogany stain. The bowl is canted far forward for a Volcano, with the fore wall almost perfectly straight in its vertical stretch. The deflated rim and wide, round heel are both smoothly finished and swirling with birdseye, and a stub of briar shank reaches back to a lengthy, bent accent of brown horn that holds the saddle stem. The stem is push-style with a light bend and taper as it stretches out from a single expansion ring, matching this piece's great fluidity with some fluid lines of its own. Zelong provided great linework here that should also be recognized for his amazing work with horn and the grain.