Partially Sandblasted Bent Apple Tobacco Pipe

Alex Florov entered the pipe making world in 2004, with a background in industrial design and a sculptural approach few can match. Originally from Moscow, Russia, Florov approaches the craft as an art, often sculpting his pieces by hand with chisels to achieve superb precision. This bent Apple offers both a sculptural aesthetic and clear attention to detail, with a bulbous bowl clasped by a narrow, vertical shank that brings to mind Lars Ivarsson's signature Cup and Ball design.

The bowl is nearly spherical and wearing a ruby sandblast that accentuates excellent ring grain, offering a stimulating presence in hand and much for fingertips to appreciate. The shank is the polar opposite, with a crisp spade pattern cupping the bowl, it's pointy fore spreading to form the edges of the spade and a central ridgeline running along the entire underside and up the shank. The narrow shank is dressed in a smooth finish and stunning contrast stain, illuminating flame grain on both flanks and a field of dense birdseye on its domed, teardrop-shaped face. A thin brass ring encircles the mortise, from which erupts a push-style stem of vulcanite that expands to an elegant ring before turning downward to race to the lip button.