Adam Davidson: Sandblasted Blowfish Tobacco Pipe

The Blowfish is an artisan shape that, while open to wide degrees of artistic variation, typically consists of a cross-grain oriented stummel comprising a central panel that separates the flanks into more rounded sections, often paired to an evocatively shaped shank. That said, though many renditions do have fish-like elements — often with outward flicking ridgelines about the transition that resemble fins — this piece from Adam is among those that truly resemble an actual fish. Such resemblance is most evident in the pipe's aerial profile and the shaping of its shank. Furthermore, this particular block of briar featured a prominent gash of internal plateau along one side, requiring Adam to shape creatively around the blemish and resulting in this pipe's specific design.

When viewed from above, the stummel curves leftward, emulating a fish's swimming motion, and the shank curls dramatically upward in profile, turning toward the bowl for a tightly curvaceous transition. The ridgelines along the flanks of the shank, then, flow down along the base, while a single ridgeline bisects the length of the stummel, forming the composition's undercurve. The left flank bears a circular ridgeline to demarcate blasted birdseye, and the right side features a protruding panel that flicks outward around the transition to form one of those aforementioned "fins." Deeply scalloped, the transition is dramatically defined, and promotes an ergonomic posture, especially when held with the left hand. Dressed in a dark, plum-hued stain, this pipe forgoes flashy colors or accenting materials to allow the shape's lines to take center stage. It's also quite a large piece, not quite to the same degree as Adam's Magnum renditions, but close, and it's fitted simply to a minimalist saddle stem that inserts straight into the shank in army mount configuration.