Smooth Acorn with Osage Orange Tobacco Pipe

Jared Coles is an American, California-based carver who is equally at home with traditional shapes and creative, organic renditions such as this Acorn. A bulbous bowl expands as it rises, curving at the top to a rim of undulating, craggy plateau, following the briar perfectly to bring out tight striations of flame grain all around. The heel is demarcated by a wrapping ridgeline, a feature that continues and runs up the shank, forming the fore of a rounded panel on the underside and discrete panels on both flanks. The shaping provides a comforting presence in hand and plenty of room for thumb draping over the shank's rounded top.

The stummel is dressed in a smooth finish and handsome contrast stain, bringing out not only the aforementioned flame grain but a dense field of birdseye on the lower panel. An accent of lighter osage orange wood adds contrast at shank end, with an abbreviated split stem configuration giving way to a lithe vulcanite mouthpiece that curls down just slightly for a comfortable smoke.