Mike Sebastian Bay: Rusticated Bent Egg with Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

Mike Sebastian Bay's Shaping style is influenced by the Danish greats, his portfolio typified by its consistently excellent output of classic shapes steeped in Danish sensibilities. This bent Egg is an excellent example of his shaping style, with an immediately recognizable air of Danish classicism about its silhouette, one possessed of ample curvature throughout. The transition is wide, with plenty of room to drape a digit, and it gives way to a curling shank that tapers as it reaches to a sleek stem of tapering black vulcanite. The junction between the pair is marked by a domed accent of boxwood, one carved to mimic the stem's expansion ring at the base, and it draws the eye toward the small bit of negative space between them: subtly balancing the presence of the bowl. Said bowl stands on a sweeping heel and cants forward dynamically, its low-set waist offering a comfortable feel in hand thanks to its ample suppleness. The walls take on an arcing taper to the rim from this waist, with the aft wall displaying a more significant curvature than the fore. This pipe is dressed in a craggy and uniquely textural rustication, one taught to him by Tom Eltang and one that he's reinterpreted as his own, here in a deep, inky stain.