J. Alan: Sandblasted Pot with Ivorite (1809) Tobacco Pipe

A delightful straight Pot from American carver Jeff Gracik of J. Alan pipes, this little beauty offers plenty of dark mystique and the kind of precise linework I expect out of an artisan of his caliber. It's an American take on Danish pipe design, and a style that Jeff has made his own, with a crisply defined bowl that displays a lot of strength at the heel, a stout, oval shank, and a pleasantly inflated rim.

I really appreciate Jeff's skill in the blasting cabinet, and he has put it to good use here with a medium-depth sandblast that beautifully accentuates some really nice cross grain without spoiling the clean profile of the shape. It's wearing a dark ruby stain, lending it that mystique I mentioned, with the rim left smooth and lighter for a bit of contrast and to show off sweeping striations of cross grain. A fitment of Ivorite at the shank end provides a visual break, neatly dividing stem from stummel. The push style stem emerges like a liquid extrusion from the pale accent, expanding to a trim expansion ring before reducing to a lithe saddle stem arrangement, culminating in one of Jeff's excellent hand-shaped and funneled lip buttons.