Sandblasted Acorn with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Though many artisans and workshops employ genuine horn as accents or ferrules on their pipes, very few have made the medium such an aesthetic staple as Scott Klein. Simply put, when you picture Scott's work, more than likely it's these delicately-transitioned, horn-ferruled, upward-flicking numbers that first come to mind. Much of this recognition is due to how seamlessly he incorporates horn into his compositions. More than mere accents, Scott transforms these ferrules into integral pieces of the larger compositional puzzle — not only lending the piece a certain organic flare, but relying on the shape, pattern, and shade of the horn itself to accentuate the shape and finish of the pipe (rather than the other way around). We see a beautiful example of this shift in focus in this bent Acorn. With its extra trim transition and seriously abbreviated shank, Scott's used the horn ferrule to complete the form's silhouette and balance out the visual weight of the oval shaped bowl — the elongated, mocha-and-cream colored piece complementing the ebony sandblast of the stummel nicely, as well as drawing the eye upward along its smooth, flaring lines and a quick, upward flick. What's perhaps even more impressive is that he's done it all while keeping to quite a diminutive form overall — weighing just over 30 grams, and measuring four and a half inches in length. Really great piece.

- Andrew Wike