Scottie Piersel: Sandblasted Author Tobacco Pipe

The Author is a classic shape far less commonly seen than in decades past, when it was a staple of the old English marques. It's always a pleasure to see a rendition of the stocky, handy, comfort pipe, and even more so when crafted by Scottie Piersel. Known for her startlingly thin, proprietary, pencil-shanked pipes, the American carver has proven time and again that she's equally adept at creating more muscular designs, the Author among them.

The rounded, portly bowl displays the low mass and gradual taper of the traditional form, with a smoothly beveled rim lending further flair in addition to aiding in the loading of tobacco into the good-sized chamber. A high-set transition emphasizes the equally stout, upwardly curling shank that's then topped by one of Scottie's colorful and comfortable vulcanite stems, comprising beautiful lavender, purple, and black hues, a playful patch of pink presenting further eye-catching appeal.

The carver's talents also extend to shaping briar in order to best show off its grain. The stummel is dressed in a rustic, ruddy contrast-stained sandblast, highlighting tight-knit stacks of rippling growth rings not only across the bowl but also on the shank, while blasted birdseye populates the heel. Furthermore, the aforementioned smooth, mahogany-stained rim is rife with pinpricks of birdseye. This Author is precisely designed, with much attention to detail and is of course highly functional, one of the main tenets that define the artisan's pipe-making aesthetic.