Sandblasted Calabash with Black and White Ebony (Friar) (A18) (13) Tobacco Pipe

A rapidly curling bent Dublin shape, this piece is the most readily identifiable as coming from the workshop of American pipemaker Jody Davis, as it presents a very gradual, tubular sense of taper from bit to rim. The broad domed rim makes for a brilliant canvas to showcase whorls of blasted birdseye, bolstered handsomely on all flanks by layer after layer of beautifully craggy ring-grain, courtesy of one of Jody's heralded blasts. This is certainly one of Jody's more sinuous numbers to my eye, and the crisp curve implied by the underside is maintained perfectly, despite the carver's intense blast work. An elegant ring of black and white ebony dresses the shank's end, paired to a circular stem base of the same, making for a delightfully charming complement to all that dark textured briar.