Trey Rice: Sandblasted Bent Brandy with Masur Birch Tobacco Pipe

Trey Rice has worked with wood since he was a child and carved the first pipe he ever owned, now leveraging his years of experience in carving and architecture to create alluring artisan pipes that draw on the Danish, American, and Anglo-French schools of pipe making. This bent Brandy is a handy piece, measuring in at just slightly over four and a half inches long and encroaching on Nosewarmer territory, though it maintains a substantial feel in hand that affords the composition a sturdy character. For all its practical charm, this piece yet radiates an air of refinement, as Rice has crafted it with some expertly balanced proportions and a charmingly broad shank. Said shank lifts out of a wide transition with a subdued flare, expanding out vertically as it curls to meet a trim ring of masur birch that serves to mark the junction. Though the shank looks reserved in silhouette, from the smoker's perspective, it assumes an impressive breadth, all while maintaining the slight flare seen from the flank: cultivating a varied appearance that keeps the eye focused on the stummel. At the junction, the shank meets a sleek cumberland saddle stem with a firm expansion ring at its base, the sharp edge of this ring working with the slight outcropping of the birch accent to create a small area of negative space that balances the composition's visual weight subtly. From the left side of the accent, a crisp ridgeline manifests, altering the shape of the shank to include a sleek taper from the right side to the left before this ridge extends through the shank and dissipates near the transition. The bowl itself stands on a lifted heel, its walls resting on a low-set waist complete with ample curvature for a more comfortable feel in hand, with these curves extending through the walls' arcing taper to the chamfered rim. Dressing this pipe is a crisp, inky sandblast that reveals stacks of rippling ring grain flowing down the bowl and lining the shank, with streaks of visual flame revealed alongside them: all while the birch accent adds striking contrast.