Becker: Sandblasted Strawberry Wood Dublin (Three Clubs) Tobacco Pipe

The Becker aesthetic personified in one pipe, this Dublin is a prime example of Federico's work. It's a piece that can be defined in a word: crisp. The silhouette is marked by sleek lines, a balanced forward cant, and a sharply pointed heel — all conventional aspects of Becker's shaping style. Arrow straight and incredibly streamlined through the elongated shank and abbreviated saddle stem, the bowl rises prominently up front, remaining slender while the obvious cant accentuates the forward-urging momentum initiated by the sleekness of the shank-and-stem combination. Crisp of form and profile, this piece is equally crisp of finish: Having been fashioned from strawberry wood, it's dressed in a consistent sandblast to bring out the material's more eccentric grain patterns. The dark stain is then accented by a walnut contrast along the chamfered, innermost section of the rim and in a ring at the shank end.