Mike Sebastian Bay: Sandblasted Billiard with Bamboo 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. While Bay carves a number of bamboo-extended renditions of classic shapes, this Billiard is something of a rarity, being the first bamboo-extended iteration of the shape that we've received from Bay that's been finished in a sanblast. Overall, this pipe is impressively lightweight, balancing its appreciable length with less than an ounce of weight: making for a pipe that's suited well to clenching despite not being bent. A wide transition gives way to an extremely short shank which pairs to the bamboo extension at a trim band of black vulcanite, tapering as it flows and mirroring the rhythmic flow of the bamboo. This flow is further matched by the stem, itself separated from the dense grass by an additional band of black vulcanite, the stem's matching material flaring out toward the shoulders before slenderizing into the bit. Up front, the bowl sits atop a rounded heel that marks a low-set waistline, its walls making a supple, Brandy-like taper toward the softly inflated rim, its build canting forward subtly for a bit of dynamism in silhouette. The aforementioned sandblast that dresses this piece is stained an inky tone, revealing rippling growth rings across both flanks of the bowl, while the smooth-finished rim offers both contrast and a view of some nice cross grain.