Sandblasted Bent Apple with Ivorite (1766) Tobacco Pipe

Jeff Gracik of J. Alan pipes has mastered this shape, and variations of it, with the smooth flow from bowl to upturned and flared shank immediately speaking his name to me as soon as I see it. This version is an Apple, displaying a plumply rounded bowl cupped by a raised ridgeline at the shank transition that reminds me of Lars Ivarsson's Cup and Ball shape. The profile is rounded from the rim's fore all the way around the heel and up the shank, with the stem bent just slightly out back to form a distinct S-curve, very supple in hand and pleasing to the eye.

I always like Jeff's sandblasts, and have spent a good deal of time watching videos of him applying multiple layers of the technique, trying to figure out how he can make them so incredible. I still haven't figured out the technique, but the results are indisputable, with crisp growth rings climbing the bowl and the curve of the shank. It is a truly two-tone finish, with the bowl stained red and the shank black, but he has subtly changed the depth of the blast as well, leaving an extra stimulating surface on the bowl for extra finger traction and a lighter depth iteration on the shank for comfortable thumb draping. The shank is crowned with an accent ring of Ivorite providing a nice contrast between the stummel and one of Jeff's expertly hand-shaped and funneled vulcanite mouthpieces.