Askwith: Sandblasted Devil Anse Tobacco Pipe

The Devil Anse was a pipe shape featured prominently in the Hatfields and McCoys miniseries, and its presence in the show re-stoked interest in the design among collectors and artisans alike. Many workshops and carvers fashion renditions of the Devil Anse, but English artisan Chris Askwith shows a particular affinity and adeptness at fashioning the shape. He crafts the shape from morta as well as briar, and he keeps the design as compact and petite as possible, with this particular briar rendition just a touch over four inches in total length.

Perfect for pocket-carry and primed for on-the-go smoking, this piece pairs the demure, softly rounded bowl to a trim stretch of shank and stem. The Apple-like bowl cants dramatically forward for a sense of gestural momentum in profile, accentuated by the cheeked transition and arrow-straight lines of the shank-and-stem arrangement out back. The stummel wears an inky black sandblast that coaxes out whispers of growth rings across the flanks of the bowl and accentuates handsome birdseye across the fore. The dark color of the stummel allows the blue of the polyester mouthpiece to really pop within the composition, adding a dose of vibrancy to the pipe's otherwise shadowy complexion.