Askwith: Sandblasted Morta Saucer with Briar Stem Tobacco Pipe

In essence, the Saucer shape is a Rhodesian that's traded height for breadth, resembling the broad, flattened posture of its namesake. In this piece, that breadth emphasizes the bowl's equatorial ridgeline, making it the focal point of the composition as the rim tapers suddenly above. Such breadth also results in thick walls, ensuring adequate insulation around the chamber. Canted at just the slightest degree for visual balance, the bowl transitions into a stretched shank and sleek, tapered stem for a streamlined profile and lightweight disposition. The color palette, then, is provided by Askwith's use of non-traditional materials — well, non-traditional in the context of pipe making as a whole, but common mediums within the English carver's portfolio — the stummel fashioned from crisply sandblasted, jet-black morta, paired to a briar mouthpiece.