Werner Mummert: Sandblasted Bulldog Tobacco Pipe

German artisan Werner Mummert has a reputation for fashioning bold, experimental designs that push the boundaries of pipe making as a craft. His work could be classified as avant-garde, but it may be more apt to think of him as a true auteur, as each shape he crafts is unmistakably his. Here, the artisan presents his signature rendition of the Bulldog shape, but with a slight modification that distinguishes it from other variations we've seen. While the bowl size on Mummert's Bulldogs often vary, this piece offers a Stack-like bowl that houses a chamber capacity over two inches in depth. The bowl towers over the lengthy diamond shank and abbreviated saddle stem of jet-black vulcanite. Two paneled facets on either side of the heel drive it forward, causing it protrude at the fore of the bowl. The form's characteristic beadlines rest just below the subtly domed rim, and as is typical for Mummert's Bulldog shapes, the lines all around sharp, angular, and pronounced. The stummel wears one of the German carver's stunning, coppery sandblasts that coaxes out neat stacks of growth rings on all sides of the bowl while giving the shank a scale-like appearance.