Partially Sandblasted Acorn Sitter Tobacco Pipe

Lv Zelong is a Chinese artisan who began carving pipes in 2009, entering the craft with a long-held appreciation for pipes, pipe smoking, and the intricacies of pipe making. Upon beginning his journey as a pipe maker, Zelong sought guidance from some of China's foremost artisans, including Ping Zhan and Lan Zhenjun, while taking inspiration from both veteran Chinese artisans and Danish icons like Tom Eltang. Zelong crafts pipes that not only embody bold, forward-thinking aesthetics and incredible finishes, but that are engineered to smoke as well as possible and provide a consistently excellent experience.

This Acorn is a charming piece from Lv, with a palpable bit of asymmetrical shaping about its form which keeps things interesting on nearly every subsequent look. The shank here is a flaring stretch of ovoid-shaped briar which tilts slightly to the left as it reaches toward its end, the face here slanted in the same direction. Despite this, the stem still stays in-line with the chamber, its smartly curved saddle of black vulcanite meeting the shank at a push-style mount reinforced with brass. The shank plunges down into a tightly-knit transition and comes to rest at a flattened heel which allows for stable, easy sitting. Said heel supports the bowl as well, which has here taken on a wonderfully organic shape that flares out to a high-set waistline softly rendered with ample curvature. The outline is quite bulbous, and its feel in hand is great, with plenty of contours for the fingers to wrap around. A kiss of plateau graces the rim, with the rim itself possessed of some asymmetrical shaping to match that of the shank, as well as a dip in the center for even more visual intrigue. Dressing this piece is an incredible sandblast. Rather than blasting away much of the briar around the growth rings, Lv has treated this pipe with a softer style that reveals dense ring grain throughout, while keeping streaks of flame grain visible beneath the stummel's vibrant auburn contrast stain.