Gabriele: Sandblasted Bent Apple (Turtle) Tobacco Pipe

Gabriele Dal Fiume has been carving pipes since 1987, his decades of experience contributing to a unique shaping style that incorporates elements of Danish, Italian, and American pipe making. This bent Apple is a great example of that style, being a piece that combines remarkable brevity with ample substance, measuring in at just a hair over four and a half inches long and encroaching on Nosewarmer territory. The transition is wide and nearly at a right angle, though one set closer to the bowl thanks to the shank's lifting reach out toward the stem. Said shank flares out expressively, lined with ridges at the flanks that then enclose the face and frame its lenticular shape, defining a domed area of briar. This dome is drilled out to allow the saddle stem to nestle in up to the base, creating an organic fusion of cumberland and briar as the stem's complex array of sharp and domed expansion rings draws the eye to the aft side: its demurely curved saddle lending this piece a comfortable smoking posture.

The shank's left-side ridge continues through the underside, flowing through the heel and rising up to the rim from the fore wall. Its presence in these areas is actually rather subtle, being only slightly raised, but it alters the silhouette of this piece significantly depending on one's perspective. From the left side, the bowl's heel sweeps forward into a more classically Apple-like shape, while the right side lifts the heel and seems to broaden the walls, creating a Tomato-esque visage. The walls are indeed broad, and they nicely insulate the chamber as they make a supple arc toward the chamfered rim, offering plenty of comfort in hand. The stummel is dressed in a rich, natural sandblast, its pale tones lent some subdued contrast by the smooth rim and shank face, and the bowl displays a wealth of rippling grain cascading down its walls.