Yeti: Partially Sandblasted Bent Dublin Sitter with Masur Birch (968) Tobacco Pipe

Micah Cryder of Yeti Pipes is an incredibly talented artisan, one of my favorites in fact, as he injects each of his pipes with a degree of whimsy and jocularity that reflects his own palpable passion for the craft, all while imbuing them with reverence toward his inspirations. Cryder is no stranger to Sitter-style shapes, and, of those, bent Dublins are the most oft-seen examples. This pipe, however, stands out among the others of its kind thanks to the immediately and arrestingly dynamic profile on display, its organic shaping enhanced by the inclusion of complex, geometric detail. The bowl is the epicenter of this detail, and it acts as the visual center of the composition, standing atop a small, short foot situated directly beneath the transition and at the lower portion of the fore wall. This foot allows the entire pipe to sit sturdily, its understated presence allowing the lines of the stummel to continue naturally without commanding too much extra attention. The bowl itself possesses thick, expressively flaring walls that arc forward out of the transition, broadening into an expansive rim and lending this pipe an appreciable dynamism in silhouette.

Cryder has carved the rim with a beveled inward taper at the edge, terminating at a ridge that defines the rim's internal area. The strip of softened briar that this shaping creates rises with its framing at the aft side, curling into a lip that's squared off at the edges and enhances the effect of the bowl's stance. The surface of the rim erupts into a craggy plain of plateau at the fore, merging the subtle, precise geometry of the rim with the organic exterior of the briar burl. A wide transition pairs the bowl to a long, lifting shank that extends out with a gradual flare, meeting a sleek saddle stem of demurely curved black vulcanite at a junction marked with a ring of polished masur birch. The lengthiness of the shank and stem and the angle at which they reach out of the transition enhance the effect of the bowl's forward urge and afford this piece a distinctive stature, its overall appearance reminiscent of Japanese design. Dressed in a partial sandblast and a rich, fiery contrast stain, the rim of this pipe is finished smooth, save for the plateau portion, and it displays a dense, swirling pattern of birdseye, while the similarly smooth fore wall reveals flickering flame grain. The rest of the stummel is rich with texture, and the rest of the bowl's walls showcase dense stacks of rippling growth rings. Additionally, the edges of the fore wall are subtly ridged, ridges hidden by the texture of the blast, granting the composition even more detail to appreciate when held.