Jared Coles: Smooth Stallion Tobacco Pipe

Jared Coles' history with pipes starts at his childhood, having been enamored with them ever since the first time he saw his grandfather smoking one. Appropriately, then, he came into the fold as a pipe smoker as soon as he turned 18, discovering the artisan world of pipes while he was in college and further engrossing himself in his passion. He formed the J&J Pipes workshop with friend John Klose after experimenting with pipe making himself, and for eight years they worked together before amicably dissolving the partnership to focus on his own work. The breadth of styles that Coles has explored spans the world, and he draws inspiration from all of these schools of design when crafting his pipes, something which can be seen in this Stallion.

This is a shape that Coles has produced before, though not in this particular style, with this iteration possessed of dual flares, one at either end. This kind of construction creates a keen sense of balance within the composition, despite the aft's flare being less expansive than the fore's, as the stem's wide base and sleek saddle orientation draw a touch of visual weight away from the bowl. Additionally, both of these flares take on an enchanting teardrop shape, with points that curve and point in opposite directions, drawing the eye toward the transition. Said transition is quite wide, and its parabolic shape enables the easy draping of a digit, the opposite points on either side interacting slightly with the thumb and keeping it in place. The overall outline here is Fan-like thanks to its sweeping underside, and, like the Fan, its faces on the top are completely covered in craggy plateau.

Unlike the Fan, this piece features a basin of negative space due to its open transition, making the shaping rather dramatic overall and evoking the look of its namesake mid-gallop: the shank and stem as the flanks and tail, and the bowl and rim as the head and mane. Additionally, this lends the composition a blooming, upward momentum from either end, not only adding dynamism to the shape as a whole, but accentuating the lengthy, sweeping undercurve which runs from end to end. Dressing the briar here is a vibrant chestnut contrast stain, revealing dense streaks of flame and straight grain which follow the shape of the stummel extremely well, while the underside holds a basin of birdseye.