Partially Sandblasted Blowfish Tobacco Pipe

How does one best emphasize a wild, curling, Blowfish design that that for all appearances was inspired by a conglomeration of powerfully crashing waves? Well, an almost painfully fine and slender stem helps, contrasting and counterpointing the energy and momentum of the bowl and shank. A dense, damascene-patterned piece of briar to shape it all out will help as well, providing a display of grain that's equally dramatic. And if you're going to go that way with things, it's best to make sure you've got a contrast stain handy that will make that grain stand out in a dark yet bold style, the two together producing a beautifully tempestuous look. Then to mix things up, you could use precisely-defined, lightly etched areas of black sandblast to to create a complex, inter-winding pairing to the smooth-polished surfaces, serving to frame and highlight them in an artful style.

As it so happens, Jeff Gracik did just that - all of it.

- Eric N. Squires