Scottie Piersel: Relief Contrast Pencil Shank Tomato Tobacco Pipe

Scottie Piersel began her pipe making career from a place of kindness: She wanted to fashion a gift for her husband. She bought a pipe making kit, and her interest quickly piqued. She began doing research and eventually started to study under some of the great North American carvers. As her training progressed and her skills became more refined, she developed a mission statement: Carve pipes with an emphasis on function, comfort, engineering, and longevity. Of course, her work is also incredibly stylish, but the style is meant to complement the pipe's utility, not supersede it. This Tomato shape could be recognized as her work from across the room, its slender shank-and-stem arrangement and sleek, minimalist shaping distinctly Piersel.

At first glance, this piece seems like a lesson in poor support and structure, with the pencil-thin shank appearing unfit to support the broad, squat bowl's heavy mass, but while Piersel's expert engineering may initially appear haphazard, it is actually anything but that. Despite its diameter, the shank is actually incredibly sturdy, as it's reinforced with stainless steel lining. This allows for Piersel's pipes to maintain a sleek, lightweight appearance while also ensuring the upmost durability and stability. Compared to other shapes within the carver's portfolio, this piece is quite modest in terms of length, the shank and stem providing ample balance to the rotund bowl in profile. It also looks quite fetching in Scottie's ruby-tinged Relief Contrast sandblast, which dresses the stummel and accentuates the natural grain orientation of the briar, save for the rim, which is left smooth for contrast. A saddle stem of orange-hued vulcanite tops off the design and, along with the pearly accent along the shank end, offers a dose of contrasting color out back.