Sandblasted Bent Egg with Box Elder Burl and Bakelite Tobacco Pipe

Micah Redmond is an American carver known for distinctly compact work that combines American muscularity with Danish flow and Japanese organicism for a style that is distinctly his own. This bent Egg is more reflective of his American shaping sensibilities, with a compact and muscular frame that spans less than four inches in length. Such a tight knit form does little to harm the chamber's capacity, though: It still has more than an inch of depth. As with many Danish-influenced compositions, supple curvature underscores the pipe, connecting the fore of the rim to the shank face in one fell swoop. The bowl's aft wall is more slanted than the fore, which by adding forward motion to the composition, balances out the aftward motion of the stem. The shank is, as is proportionally appropriate, a brief affair. It flares subtly into its face, where a box elder burl accent marks the junction between the stummel's craggy sandblast and the pink Bakelite stem. I really like this stem, not just for its bright coloring, but also for its shape. Its base is an elongated dome-like structure that reflects the plump curvature of the bowl and redirects the shank's flare into a taper. Looking at it from above, one can see that the bit flares out horizontally from the top of the base's dome shape, and I personally find this feature to be really pleasing to look at. This pipe's compact build is perfectly suited for pocket-carrying for the on-the-go smoker, and its gorgeous form and unique stem means that this is a pipe you're going to want to take with you quite frequently.