Sandblasted Strawberry Wood Wasp with Mammoth (Double Wolf Paw) Tobacco Pipe

The Double Wolf Paw designation is German artisan Wolfgang Becker's second highest grade, and it's found here on the carver's signature Wasp shape. The Wasp is a design that Backer has returned to again and again since he first fashioned it in the late-1980s. Though he's crafted the shape many times over the years, each rendition possesses its own distinctive character, its own unique flourish or subtly altered shaping cue, so the shape always feels fresh and original. This particular rendition is especially unique, as it's been fashioned from beautiful strawberry wood, a material not often utilized by the German artisan.

While the fore of the bowl here is subtly raised, the aft side slopes gently down into a low-set transition, a shaping cue that lends the bowl a forward-ebbing momentum and an asymmetrical quality in profile. The bulbous heel extends a touch past the transition and provides the bowl with an extra bit of heft, especially in hand. The shank broadens swiftly as it exits the transition, its widening corresponding directly to its upward trajectory away from the bowl. A saddle stem of jet-black vulcanite tops off the design, angled by the lifted shank for a comfortable smoking posture. The stummel wears a handsome sandblast that coaxes out some rippling growth rings on all sides of the bowl, while an accent of mammoth adorns the shank end and adds further flourish to the overall composition.