Trey Rice: Sandblasted Canadian Tobacco Pipe

Trey Rice has been involved in the art of creation since childhood, advancing out of toys and into woodworking, then architecture, and now pipe making. Trey's introduction into the world of pipes was courtesy of a friend who introduced him to the hobby while in college, and Rice was enamored almost immediately and sought to purchase one himself. Lacking funds, but familiar with woodwork, Trey began to carve himself a pipe. He hasn't stopped carving since then, and advanced his skills considerably as he continued, going on to receive tutelage from accomplished American carvers and incorporate new techniques into his work. With his growing skill came a finely tuned sense of taste, and his appreciation for the Danish school's great artisans, seminal American carvers, and historic English firms rings true in his work.

Though initially this Canadian looks to be straight out of an Anglo-French shape chart, there's a good bit of extra substance lent to the bowl, its walls thicker, taller, and more robust than would be expected in a thoroughly traditional rendition. Along with providing more substance in the hand, this emphasis on the bowl is reflective of the American style's sense of understated muscularity and bowl-forward proportions, though the bowl is balanced well by the shank here. Said bowl rests atop a pronounced heel and tapers gently toward a softly inflated rim, its walls offering plenty of curvature for the fingers to appreciate. A wide transition gives way to a lengthy, ovoid shank which tapers ever-so-slightly as it reached toward a similarly tapering stem of cumberland. Dressed in a crisp, darkly-stained sandblast, there's a wealth of blasted birdseye on either flank of this piece to appreciate, the smooth rim and vibrant tones of the cumberland stem offering some contrast.