Sandblasted Bent Dublin (2024) Tobacco Pipe

Scott Klien's extensive knowledge of the trades contributed to his swift acquisition of pipe making skills, quickly learning the ins and outs of the craft while developing a distinctly artistic style that draws on designs by both the Japanese and Danish greats. This bent Dublin shows that inspiration as tempered by the lens of a thoroughly American execution. A rather compact piece, this pipe yet boasts an impressive substance throughout, with plenty of thickness present across nearly all of its features. The transition is almost completely parabolic, and it gives way to a broad, ovoid shank that flares out to the junction, meeting a sleek saddle stem of black vulcanite at a remarkably complex accent whose presence is remarkably understated. This accent is a plump, domed segment of briar finished in a crisp tanblast, and it's a contiguous extension of the shank, carved exactly to resemble more commonly seen accent rings of disparate material. The area of the junction, and specifically where the shank meets its own briar accent, is marked by a shockingly trim band of smooth briar that underscores Klein's impressively exacting skill and creates an extremely subtle variation in texture. The left flank of the shank is marked by a firm ridgeline which stylistically compresses that side and creates a teardrop shape as the ridge leads the eye to the bowl. A sweeping heel supports said bowl, and it lends the walls an endlessly curvaceous aspect, which infuses the silhouette with a jaunty upright posture that keeps the eye focused on all this pipe's details. The bowl flares out expressively as it reaches to the rim, the aft wall flaring out a touch more than the fore, with both sides boasting small peaks at the ends of the rim, the rim itself showcasing a dappling of sanded plateau. Dressed in an inky sandblast, the stummel showcases handsome grain throughout, with rippling bands of ring grain cascading down the bowl and swirls of birdseye atop the rim where the plateau has been sanded and finished smooth.