Wojtek Pastuch: Sandblasted Nosewarmer Billiard with African Black Wood (0919) Tobacco Pipe

Plenty of nosewarmers pass through this office, but none like this from Wojtek Pastuch, a Polish carver who collected and restored pipes from the time he was 15. While small, this piece packs more personality than one might expect from a piece that will lay across the palm without extending past. Not many carvers opt for plateau rims in mosewarmers, but it acts here to visually enhance the vertical reach of that bowl. The grain is deep and craggy, yet the shape of the bowl is elegantly maintained. The bowl's curvature is irresistible. The shank is somewhat minimized in diameter to give the bowl more visual emphasis. The bowl takes further visual precedence in conjunction with the abbreviated mouthpiece, in a saddle configuration with a very flat mouthpiece for maximum negative space. It will slip into a pocket, but with the plateau rim and craggy sandblast, it will tear up any facial tissue you may have stashed in the same pocket. This piece has lots of texture and lots of presence, and is primed to deliver countless years of visual and tactile enjoyment, along with its superb smoking qualities.