Scott Thile: Sandblasted Liverpool (562) Tobacco Pipe

An adroit woodworker long before he ever considered pipe making, Scott Thile has been a mainstay in the pipe community for decades. Alongside his own line of handmade artisan pipes, Thile is also responsible for the establishment and maintenance of Pipedia, the world's most comprehensive online resource of pipe brands and makers. With tutelage and inspiration from the likes of Todd Johnson, Bruce Weaver, Jeff Gracik, Adam Davidson, and Brad Pohlmann, Thile has been fashioning handcrafted pipes since the early 2000s, and his design sense offers fresh interpretations of classic designs, with his Bulldog and Billiard variants especially lauded and collected worldwide.

This Liverpool exemplifies Thile's approach to classics, with a traditional profile but increased proportions throughout. Often times, the Liverpool's elongated shank creates a sleek and slender profile, but Thile shaped this piece with a stout shank that belies its increased length. Comparatively, the bowl remains more pert and slender, and such proportions are a playful inverse of the standard Billiard variant: Typically, the bowl takes center stain, with the shank more proportionally reserved; however, this piece switches that dynamic, with the shank dominating the composition. Dressed in a reserved sandblast, it poses a traditional color palette, with the hand-cut cumberland stem offering a reserved and complementary accent.