Wojtek Pastuch: Sandblasted Apple with African Blackwood (1315) Tobacco Pipe

Known for his skillful craftsmanship and carefully rendered designs, Wojtek Pastuch is a talented Polish carver who crafts a wide range of unique shapes, from fairly traditional designs to more eccentric compositions. This Apple showcases Pastuch's traditional shaping and possesses a plump, full-bodied bowl that stands at the fore of a trim shank and a slender saddle stem. Almost Italian neoclassical in proportion, the bowl here holds most of the visual weight within the composition, its broad build and subtle forward cant overshadowing the incredibly demure shank-and-stem arrangement. The aforementioned shank boasts a subtle flare that draws attention to a band of African Blackwood along the junction. This accent mirrors the rest of the shape's dark dual finish, which consists of a rugged sandblast juxtaposed against smoothly polished sections of briar.