Sam Adebayo: Smooth Bent Apple with Bakelite Tobacco Pipe

Sam Adebayo started smoking pipes as a teenager, hoping to emulate the look of some of his favorite Jazz legends, though his passing interest soon became passion, and he began to carve pipes of his own. Now, Adebayo is a celebrated artisan, his work often displaying a stout musculature with ample plumpness, usually in handy, compact packages. This bent Apple is a rather good example of that style, though it's not exactly a compact pipe. The transition is wide, with plenty of room to drape a digit before giving way to a lifting shank that flares subtly as it reaches toward a sleek saddle stem of elegant, grey Bakelite: the world's first commercially available synthetic plastic and a material that's become prized in recent years for its varied, vibrant tones and high heat resistance. The thickness of the shank and stem do well to balance the presence of the bowl, placing much of the visual weight on the transition and allowing for all this pipe's detail to be appreciated at once. The bowl itself stands on a sweeping, curvaceous heel and grows remarkably plump walls that expand as they rise with a rotund arc toward the inflated rim, offering a comfortable feel in hand and providing plenty of room to showcase the stummel's rich, deep, chestnut-hued stain.