Yeti: Natural Sandblasted Acorn with Mammoth (910) Tobacco Pipe

Micah Cryder is the artisan behind Yeti pipes, his passion for the craft imbued into him since childhood. An autodidact for much of his career, he turned to pipe makers forums for information about carving before he developed relationships with other notable American carvers who furthered his knowledge of the craft considerably, especially with regard to the technical elements. Over the years, his abilities have become even more refined, each pipe made contributing to his skills and solidifying his unique shaping style, something which can be seen here in this Acorn.

There's an extremely understated bit of curvature to this piece, especially at the stem, whose minimal, demure downturn at the saddle bit affords the silhouette an elegance through the aft side. The shank lifts gently out of a wide transition and takes on a measured flare out to its end, where the junction to the stem is marked by a rounded ring of pale mammoth that displays unique patterning. The majority of the visual weight here is centered on the bowl, its ample substance sat atop a spurred heel whose extension downward is marked by a soft rounding rather than the sharper spurs often seen on other Acorns. What stands out immediately about the bowl's structure here is its impressively broad rim, the result of the walls' dramatic flare out from its comparatively compressed heel spur. This impressive expansion makes for a defined robustness in hand that belies the pipe's remarkably compact dimensions, coming in at five inches long overall and possessed of an extremely light weight. The stummel here is dressed in a crisp, sandblast that's presented without stain, revealing a dense pattern of rippling growth rings cascading down the bowl, its natural finish ensuring that the briar will darken with bespoke patination as it's smoked: the black vulcanite of the stem working well with the mammoth accent to provide some understated contrast.