Scottie Piersel: Sandblasted Pencil Shank Apple with Ivorite Tobacco Pipe

Scottie Piersel's pipe making career was born out of a loving gesture for her husband, as she sought to carve him a pipe for Father's Day. Instead of a one-off bit of interesting woodwork, what she found was a hitherto unawakened passion for the art of pipe carving, and she spent the next several years studying the craft and carving more and more pipes. Much of her learning was autodidactic, and this journey of trial and error led her to a successful design outlook that prioritizes flawlessness all around. In addition, it led her to acquire a truly singular shaping style, one which has become quintessentially Piersel in execution, represented by this straight Apple. By no means is the pencil shank something that Scottie started, and neither is it something that's uniquely hers, but her manner of execution and the ubiquitous nature of the profile in her portfolio make it something that she's inherently known for.

This piece in particular has a shank that's a bit thicker than we're used to seeing from her — thanks to the relative proportions between the squat boal. This shank is here paired to a sleek and lengthy stretch of blue and olive tapered vulcanite, its base fitted with an expansion ring and the junction marked by a thin band of Ivorite. The overall length of this pipe comes to nearly nine inches, something that, in hand, is noticeable, though the weight of this pipe speaks to a piece that is quite a bit smaller, owing this to the diminution of the briar at the shank, as well as the metal reverse tenon which fits the stem, a feature that saves weight and keeps the composition strong. The bowl here is extremely plump, with supple rounding and comfortable curves at nearly every point in its build upward, allowing it to nestle into the hands quite well, the walls tapering to a forward-canting rim that adds a bit of visual dynamism to the profile. Dressing the briar here is a dark, auburn-ruby contrast stain and a fine sandblast, unveiling some soft rippling ring grain all around the bowl, the texture on offer actually quite smooth.