Michael Parks: Partially Sandblasted Calabash with Horn (VI.20) Tobacco Pipe

With a Michael Parks pipe comes creative design, masterful engineering, bright new concepts in proportion and line, and unparalleled smoking quality. I own several and want more; they are always overworked and always in my rotation because they always deliver superior smoking experiences. This Calabash isn't my shape or you'd never have seen it; I'd have broken into the warehouse in the dead of night and made my way to Sri Lanka with it, my boss Sykes Wilford on my trail the whole way. I'm working on the screenplay for that now, with Ryan Reynolds playing me and Danny DeVito playing Sykes.

While this particular pipe did not launch such an action/adventure, it certainly merits a three-volume epic of its own with its new owner as the protagonist. It's a large pipe, more than seven inches in length, with a proportionately large bowl and a slender shank-and-stem flowing from the base of the pipe in a smooth, serpentine arc to the crisp lip button. The mouthpiece is finely striated in variegated vulcanite, its color tones irresistibly complementary to the stummel and the wide accent of horn.

The bowl's deep sandblast is consistent, with ring grain stacked up the flanks for visual and tactile satisfaction, and that bowl also maintains an independent character because of the low transition seemingly emerging from the heel and providing a smooth parabola along the underside. The rim cap, though, particularly attracts attention, its polished smoothness reigning over the rest of the composition in dark burgundy with contrast stain illuminating the grain. For those who enjoy the Calabash shape, this is a pipe sure to be a collection highlight.