Sandblasted Pickaxe Tobacco Pipe

A silversmith by trade, Chris Askwith's journey into pipe making began, as many do, with his own smoking, taking up the pipe in 2006 and using his myriad of tools to restore estate pipes for his own use. In 2007, Askwith joined a pipe club where, by chance, he was afforded the opportunity to make his own smoking instruments using another member's tools. The money he earned from selling these pieces was used to outfit his own workshop with tools better suited to pipe making, and now Chris fashions handmade pipes full-time.

The Pickaxe is a shape we've seen very seldom from Askwith in the past, though the English artisan executes it with an uncanny skill and keen eye for dynamism, the posture of this pipe a strikingly lively one. Though the Pickaxe is arguably an inherently dynamic shape, Chris has highlighted that dynamic silhouette here by enhancing the verticality of the shank-and-stem combination. The transition is angular, but leaves plenty of room to drape a digit and gives way to a trim, lifting shank that tapers to meet the lengthy stem of vibrant yellow acrylic which continues the shank's taper, taking on a demure downturn at the bit for a comfortable smoking posture. The shank and stem here create a poised arc that reaches slightly higher than the bowl's rim and contributes to a plunging undercurve that comes to a defined point at the heel, giving the silhouette of this piece the distinctive look of its namesake. From this sharp spur, the bowl grows upward with a gentle flare and subtle forward cant, reaching a high-set ridgeline before making a slight taper to the chamfered rim. Dressing the briar here is a crisp, lightly-stained tanblast that reveals rippling grain through the flanks of the bowl, whose fore is dotted with textural birdseye, and which is complemented handsomely by the stem's vibrant tones.