Smooth Spinnaker with Bamboo (1188) Tobacco Pipe

Originally created by the legendary Bo Nordh back in the day, the Elephant's Foot is a modern pipe design that's been reiterated and redefined over the years by a number of independent artisans and workshops. Given its freehand nature, there's quite a bit of creative liberty one can take in the actual execution of the design, meaning no two Elephant's Feet are quite the same. Jeff Gracik has worked with this design frequently over the years, honing his own interpretation and imbuing it with his signature style.

In fact, Jeff's own rendition of this shape has become so unique that it's taken on its own, independent title: the Spinnaker. Much like many of Jeff's other signature shapes, it's nautically inspired, with its full, convex fore evoking the imagery of a bulging, three-cornered spinnaker sail when running with the wind. Stylistically, it differs from other iterations of the Elephant's Foot in the treatment of the trim panels to either flank, tapering along a backwards curve, as well as in the higher-set, comparatively trim transition it's fixed to. Paired with a rhythmically balanced, upward-flicking bamboo extension and active lift and curve of the saddle stem, the result is nothing short of beautiful — slightly, playfully gestural in its overall silhouette, yet still packed with potential energy and forward momentum.

One of the restraints of the base design, however, is that the block it's fashioned from must display excellent grain — perfectly oriented so that the crossgrain lines the panels to either flank, with a sea of birdseye flooding the fore and aft. That's never proven a problem to Jeff, though, as the grain on this piece is about as gorgeous as it gets. Beautiful work yet again, Mr. Gracik. Beautiful work.

- Andrew Wike