Wolfgang Becker: Partially Sandblasted Wasp with Mammoth (Signature) (01.19) Tobacco Pipe

Easily noticed and immediately recognized from across a room, this is Wolfgang Becker's signature Wasp shape. The design is defined by a tapered transition that visually separates bowl from shank. These aspects are, then, further contrasted by their individual characteristics — the bowl being immensely bulbous and palm-filling, while the shank is pinched vertically and flared toward the end, making for a sleek, razor-like profile, especially when viewed from the smoker's perspective. Wolfgang often plays with asymmetry in his pieces, and this Wasp is no exception: The bowl's rotund waistline is tilted downward and to the right when observed head-on, the angle balanced by the rim sloping slightly to the left and echoed again in the shank's slightly oblique orientation. Despite this visual imbalance, the piece presides perfectly rounded in hand, filling the palm delightfully with its substantive insulating walls. It's a stunning piece in profile and is well deserving of the German carver's highest Signature grade, this one being the first partially sandblasted Signature we've ever received from Becker. Topped with a mount of mammoth, the most intriguing (and my personal favorite aspect of the piece) is how Wolfgang has left a kiss of plateau at the underside of the shank and extended the craggy texture into the bottom of the creamy accent for a fetchingly subtle, organic appeal.