Yuwei: Partially Sandblasted Cup and Ball with Horn

Lars Ivarsson's Cup and Ball design has become a staple within artisan pipemaking, having been rendered by numerous other carvers in their own homages to the late Danish master. Here, Yuwei Huang presents his own take on the venerable form. Well-defined by the shape's characteristic ridgeline about the transition and lower bowl, the bulbous bowl is poised on the end of the shank, appearing to have been fashioned from a completely different block of briar and simply rested in the "cup." Further accentuating this separation, the shank wears a dark-stained sandblast, contrasting the bowl's smooth contrast stain. Flipping the pipe over, the defining ridgeline comes to a crisp point at the heel. It's a rather compact piece compared to Lars's long-shanked renditions, and the shank tapers considerably into the transition, lending the bowl an even more poised orientation. Gorgeous work from Yuwei, it's accented with a trim ring of genuine horn at the shank end.