Pete Prevost: Sandblasted Bent Dublin Sitter with Bakelite Tobacco Pipe

Artisan pipe maker and President of BriarWorks, Pete Prevost has been making pipes for over 15 years after enjoying a career as the lead guitarist for Sanctus Real. In his early years as a pipe maker, he received guidance from iconic carvers Jody Davis, Todd Johnson, and Bruce Weaver, and today, Prevost is among North America's finest and most respected artisan pipe makers. His design sensibilities often prioritize impressively petite pipes, ranging from stout Nosewarmers to slight and slender featherweights — all imbued with the meticulous engineering and pristine finishing work of a veteran pipe maker.

Though not the most compact pipe in comparison to many Prevost pipes, this bent Dublin Sitter still maintains a relatively short and lightweight overall profile, and it's a signature design from the American artisan. A distinctive shape, it's immediately recognizable as the American artisan's work, and it toes the line between bent and straight: The shank is notably curved, but its smoking posture is very similar to a straight pipe. Most characteristic of the form is the flattened panel along the bowl's lower fore. When seated on this facet, the bowl pitches dramatically forward with the shank and stem nearly upright behind — exaggerated further by the shank's extended length. Said shank tapers toward the transition, echoing the Dublin bowl's defined flare, which here erupts into a plateau-crowned rim. It's all dressed in a rustic sandblast of handsome contrast and accented by a hand-cut stem of swirling silver Bakelite. Prevost has used Bakelite a number of times across his portfolio, and it provides a handsome accent here for a modern design equal in its modern color palette.