Sandblasted Tomato with Boxwood (Turtle) Tobacco Pipe

Though Gabriele has made quite broad-bowled briars in the past, it's only recently that we've seen these more fully stout creations from him, with deeper, more muscular transitions. This is in fact only the second, and it takes things even farther than the first by making a more tightly knit and compact form, a change that includes shifting the chamber to a forward cant and extending it upward, producing both a more eager stance and a broader rear face. That change also makes more ergonomic sense; this Tomato having a shorter and more tightly curled shank means extra room had to be made somewhere for the thumb, and that long, sloping surface running from the rear edge of the rim to the transition serves perfectly in that role.

- Eric N. Squires