Jared Coles: Partially Sandblasted Bent Dublin with Bakelite Tobacco Pipe

This pipe is Jared's entry into our annual American Pipemaking Showcase, which this year focuses on the art of the accent stem in American pipemaking. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, accent stems really just refer to any non-conventional stem type (be it sculptural in nature or composed of alternative mediums like bakelite, horn, or even colorful vulcanite) that's used by an artisan to enhance the overall composition of a given piece.

Shape wise, Jared's entry is quite striking: a tightly poised bent Dublin shape, featuring a strong, lifting heel and a quick, upward rise of the shank — together creating a tight, curling gesture in profile, with the straighter mouthpiece really emphasizing Jared's Industrial design influences. As impressive as its dynamic, forward-rushing silhouette may be, it's the overall color palette that really caught my eye here. Jared finished the stummel in an extra dark, crisp sandblast, and fitted to it a unique accent stem of deep blue vulcanite and antique, tortoiseshell colored Bakelite, with the latter actually embedded into the former. This tortoiseshell color-pattern is actually quite old-school, which makes for a quite a pleasant contrast with the more modernist shaping at play. Of course, Jared's tied it all together beautifully, keeping the saddle-shaped, domed rim polished smooth and stained in a stunning contrast similar in hue and shade to the tortoiseshell Bakelite mouthpiece, making for quite a cohesive aesthetic overall. Excellent pipe from Jared here, and a great example of what an accent stem can bring to a composition overall.

- Andrew Wike