Adam Davidson: Sandblasted Bent Egg Tobacco Pipe

When it comes to stem colors, Adam tends to keep things fairly traditional and classic, focusing on fashioning bright army mounts to accent jet-black vulcanite; in fact this is the first time we've seen this particular color palette from the American carver. He had been sitting on this vulcanite rod for nearly seven years, just waiting for the right moment and the right pipe to pair it with. Suffice to say, when we first announced that the theme for this year's American showcase would be The Art of the Accent Stem in American Pipemaking, the right moment presented itself, and he executed it all beautifully — presenting us with a lovely Danish-style bent Egg featuring a peppered salmon-colored vulcanite mouthpiece.

Adam went one further and really accentuated the dark, peppered specks of the stem by finishing the briar itself in a dark, near jet-black sandblast, keeping the focus on the shape itself as well as the mouthpiece's role in the overall composition. And seeing as Adam used up almost all of that particular rod making this piece, it's likely this is the only pipe we'll see from him wearing this particular color palette. Just an excellent piece from Davidson here.

- Andrew Wike