Ryan Alden: Sandblasted Prince with Silver (Jack of Diamonds) Tobacco Pipe

Texas-based artisan Ryan Alden is no stranger to classic Anglo-French design, and this is appropriate, given the English provenance of his name, which crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower in 1620. Much of his portfolio is made up of timeless profiles and traditional silhouettes, though he is no stranger to more contemporary shapes either, feeling equally at home crafting them as well. This Prince, then, falls ostensibly into the former camp, with a refined, timeless silhouette touched by contemporary inspiration through its slightly dramatized bowl, one that features an enhanced breadth reminiscent of the Tomato. Across much of the standard shape chart, the Prince is one of my favorites, and this pipe does a good job of showing why: as the plump bowl that sits perched at the end of its gently curling shank and stem provides a phenomenal surface for the hand, offering ample plumpness while yet maintaining a gracile silhouette. The shank itself is a straight cylinder of briar, leading into a broad band of gleaming silver at the junction before meeting a demurely curved stem of tapering black vulcanite that nicely matches the inky sandblast dressing the stummel. As a profile, this pipe just brims with personality and charm, the stummel's rugged dress unveiling dense fields of textural birdseye across the flanks of the bowl, creating a rugged elegance which truly elevates the pipe as a whole: as if the practically pastoral were waltzing with the gracefully refined in perfect step.