Werner Mummert: Sandblasted Reverse Calabash Billiard with Polymerized Corn Leaves Tobacco Pipe

Werner Mummuert has curated an aesthetic that's highly sculptural and inspired by art and architecture movements from around the world. Much of his portfolio consists of Bauhaus, Brutalist, Art Deco, and Modern Art-infused pipes that reflect not only a keen eye for shaping and composition, but a highly technical skill set which is especially prevalent in his signature renditions of classic profiles such as this Billiard.

A reverse Calabash piece, this pipe is unlike the work of any other carver, as it incorporates a material that we've really seen only Mummert use: glass. The entirety of the condensation chamber which makes this pipe a reverse Calabash is crafted from a tube of clear tempered glass, making for a pipe that's unmistakable as Werner's. Additionally, the clarity of this glass enables one to see the smoke as it accumulates within the chamber and makes cleaning extremely easy, as one can see exactly where moisture has built up inside of it. This glass tube is fitted to the shank via a pair of rubber gaskets that surround the extended shank end, with the stem attaching in the same manner. This stem is a trim saddle affair whose base has been adorned with a broad fitment of another unique material, polymerized corn leaves, lending a dose of highly stylized organicism tempered by an inorganic setting. The shank as a whole is quite trim, pushing out of a wide transition and married to the bowl at the bottom, almost immediately pushing out of a rounded heel to meet its singular fitment. The bowl itself is a lovely iteration of the classic Billiard's with a low-set waist and plump flanks that mark the start of tapering walls which rise to the rim and cant forward dynamically. Dressing the stummel here is one of Mummert's exceptional sandblasts, revealing a cross grain pattern of rippling growth rings which flow from flank to flank out of basins of birdseye.