Yang Kun: Smooth Bent Dublin with Horn (Signature) (U2411) Tobacco Pipe

Yang Kun is a Chinese artisan whose years of work in the film and television makeup industry and intense love for the Danish school of pipe carving have combined to lend him a uniquely organic and wholly expressive carving style. His works often incorporate subtle aspects of asymmetry into their compositions, and this bent Dublin is a good example of that style. Measuring in at just a bit over five inches long, this pipe is rather compact, though it infuses its reserved reach with an impressive bit of substance, offering ample heft in hand and a subdued sense of fluidity through its silhouette. The transition here is wide, with plenty of room to drape a digit if necessary, and it gives way to a thick, curling shank that's been compressed into a broad ovoid shape before taking on a lively flare toward its generous horn accent. This fitment continues the shank's flare and acts as the junction to a sleek, black vulcanite saddle stem whose slim bit makes a demure downturn for a more comfortable smoking posture: its base shaped with a firm expansion ring that highlights negative space and balances some of this pipe's visual weight.

Up front, the bowl stands on a sweeping heel, which continues the lines of the shank and leads directly into the fore wall, cultivating a subdued momentum as the wall makes an easy forward urge. The bowl takes on a measured flare from out of the heel, growing thick walls that expand further as they reach toward a broad rim, one that's actually broader than the bowl is tall. The thickness of the walls easily insulates the chamber, and the rim that overlooks this chamber is rounded at its far edge with an undulating ridgeline before its surface assumes a slight dome, one set right before a dense crown of craggy plateau. At the left fore of the rim, the briar dips, with a matching dip present at the opposite side, and this cultivated asymmetry manifests as a stylistic curve through the smoker's perspective: as if the pipe were actively arcing toward its left side. Dressing this piece is a rich, warm, honeyed stain, contrasted nicely by the tones of the horn accent and the plateau's darker hues, and it showcases some truly delightful grain. The flanks of the shank are lined with flame, and this flame extends to wrap around the walls of the bowl, all while the underside and the top of the shank are drenched in dense birdseye.