Ryan Alden: Sandblasted Poker with Bamboo (King of Clubs) Tobacco Pipe

Based in Texas, Ryan Alden fashions pipes that most often hew toward traditional English and French shaping standards, typically pairing them with more modern color palettes and artisan-quality accent work. That said, while the Poker is one such classic shape, it's not one we've seen before from the American carver, making this the first Ryan Alden Poker rendition we've received. Regarding proportions, Ryan focused on the bowl itself, the shank-and-stem quite slender and diminutive by comparison, and instead of poising the bowl perfectly upright, Alden curled it every-so-slightly forward, balancing it when sitting and also adding a more flowing sense of line and more playful stance. This piece further benefits from a shank extension of bamboo, trailing arrow-straight out back while the stem base's expansion disc matches the bamboo knuckles' crispness. One of Alden's dark-stained sandblasts covers the bowl, with the inner-most portion of the rim left smooth to contrast, drawing visual focus to the lighter hues of the bamboo accent.