Ryan Alden: Partially Sandblasted Bent Dublin with Bakelite (King of Clubs) Tobacco Pipe

This bent Dublin from Ryan Alden is a departure from the American carver's English-styled offerings, serving to diversify his portfolio. Rather than being classically English, it's a fusion of Danish and American Industrial aesthetics with a dose of modern flair. The Danish influence here is most apparent in the shape itself — a forward-flowing Dublin, the gentle transition flares seamlessly into the bowl, almost like a Horn, terminating at the inflated, slightly undulating rim. Emphasizing the Danish style, Ryan has accented the right flank with a ridgeline, flowing from out of the teardrop shank all the way up the bowl to the rim. The proportions, however, cater toward the American tradition, the Danish school's elegant lines and supple curves filled with a sense of muscularity that results in a sturdy in hand feel and hearty insulating walls around the chamber. The color palette and presentation is a modern riff on a classic Danish finish. Typically, a dark-stained, sandblasted piece from a Danish carver would be accented with a smooth polished rim. Here, Ryan has done that partly, leaving smooth the innermost portion of the rim and allowing it to gradually dissipate into the surrounding sandblast. It's a more subtle accenting touch, made even more subtle by the use of vivid, teal bakelite at the stem for quite the extroverted, modernist appeal. This is also the first batch of pipes in which Alden has rendered the stem completely from the unique material, displaying his evolution as a carver and deft stem work skill, bakelite being much more time consuming to work with.