Werner Mummert: Sandblasted Reverse Calabash Barrel with Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

I don't know if there is a figure in the pipe world quite as enigmatic as Werner Mummert. He's a member of the European Wood Turner Association and also boasts experience in CNC machining — not to mention that he's an expert sandblaster. His shaping style is difficult to constrain within words, but it should be somewhat evident in this Barrel. Truly it is an excellent example of the German carver's design sensibilities, and specifically his penchant for highly architectural, Bauhaus-inspired works of functional sculpture. Something of a signature shape for Mummert, this shape usually consists of a stummel that is a completely round cylinder, with a recessed area at the rear for the stem to nestle into, though this rendition changes that by giving the bowl a bit of definition. Where the chamber is drilled rises a short, slightly forward canting outcropping of briar that makes up the walls of the bowl. Able to sit sturdily on its flattened fore end, this pipe is imbued with reverse Calabash engineering inside of its "shank", ensuring that your smoking sessions are both cool and dry. Dressed in a dark, nearly black sandblast, this piece is given a subdued palette, though one that is contrasted vividly by a large accent ring of boxwood into which the stem nestles, and is lent some extra textural appeal thanks to the boxwood's plateau at the shank face.