Jared Coles: Smooth Bent Dublin with Silver Leaf Tobacco Pipe

American artisan Jared Coles has held a deep appreciation for pipes since his childhood, fondly recalling memories of his grandfather's own smoking before he himself came into the fold. His discovery of artisan pipes through the internet fueled this passion, and soon after this he began to make pipes of his own construction, then forming the workshop J&J Pipes with John Klose. For eight years the duo worked together before they amicably dissolved the partnership and Coles' artisan career began in earnest, his exploration of the shaping styles of various schools around the world providing him a wealth of inspiration with which to inform his own unique shaping style. His additional instruction from Todd Johnson and Jeff Gracik further refined not only his design outlook, but his technical carving ability, and that is reflected in this bent Dublin.

We've never received a piece quite like this from Coles, and it displays a potent ability to balance both proportions and elements of asymmetrical shaping, as well as influence from the Japanese tradition of carving. The stem here is quite acrobatically inclined, a black, vulcanite saddle affair that's been lent a dramatic upward travel, curving softly at the bit, almost as if it were leaping out of the shank. The broad stem base nestles into the shank face quite nicely, and the angle of the shank itself is striking, taking on a dramatic, nearly vertical posture that allows this dynamic ascension of stem to achieve its distinguished stature. Said shank face is lenticular in shape and is dotted with craggy plateau which has here been accented with silver leaf, matching the same treatment that has been applied to the rim, giving me the impression that this is something of a companion piece to the gold-adorned Blowfish we received from him before. On the left flank of the shank we see a sharp point at the face that marks the start of a plunging ridgeline which follows the underside's gentle curve before stopping at the flattened base. Additionally, the shank's build favors the right flank, leaning toward it and being built up at the end there a bit more, this subtle asymmetry balanced in the shaping of the bowl, and is best notices from the smoker's perspective.

The transition to this bowl is vertically extended, stopping midway up the aft wall and being pinched toward the top, the negative space here revealing its parabolic shape. Erupting from the flattened base is the bowl itself, curving to the left to account for the shank's leaning right, though, as it flares to the rim, we see that the right flank, too, grows higher than the left, imbuing the entire composition with a kind of organic, sloping disposition that is quite remarkable. For further balance, the bowl, too, features a plunging ridgeline, though it is oriented opposite of the shank's, the piece altogether reminding me of the concept of Wabi-Sabi in traditional Japanese aesthetics. Dressing the briar here is a warm walnut contrast stain that illuminates incredible streaks of flame and straight grain through all of the flanks of the pipe, shank and transition included, revealing Coles' talent for shaping to the grain. Pinpricks of birdseye pepper the shank face and rim as well as the base, the latter providing a stable sitting ability so to easier show off this wonderful piece.