Scottie Piersel: Sandblasted Pencil Shank Tomato Tobacco Pipe

Scottie Piersel strives for perfection in every one of her pieces, the American artisan devoting ample time to achieving clean lines and engineering that's as flawless as possible. While she expects that the practical elements of her work must be superlative, she also requires the same of these pipes' aesthetics, and her personal aesthetic is something that she's honed consistently since she made her first pipe. Favoring classic English shapes, Piersel is adept at rendering supple curves and easy fluidity, though her most recognizable shapes are those that include her signature pencil shanks, such as this Tomato.

The bowl of this piece immediately stands out, and that's no surprise, as the shank here is remarkably thin and rather trim, even for a Piersel piece, placing nearly all of the visual weight on the bowl. This thinness should not be mistaken for weakness though: Like all of her pencil-shanked pieces, the shank is lined with a rigid stainless steel tube. This not only keeps things sturdy and light, but it acts as the colorful vulcanite stem's reverse tenon, all while extending the reach of the piece. The aforementioned bowl is rotund and supple in its roundness, making for a fit in hand that's quite comfortable, and the gentle forward cant that it takes on coming out of the shank keeps things looking quite dynamic. Dressing this piece is a wonderfully crisp sandblast that does well to define the softly rippling grain of the stummel, the rim left smooth for textural variety, while the soft, swirling green and yellow of the stem add a beautiful contrast.