Smooth Boxwood Wasp with Boxwood (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 olivewood, a material not often utilized by the German artisan.

This example of the Wasp places a particularly plump bowl atop a chubby, palm-filling heel, with thick, curvaceous walls that taper gently to an asymmetrical, forward-urging rim, deeply beveled to assist in filling the capacious chamber. Out back, a smooth transition gives way to a distinctive shank, rendered in a broad oval cross section that, unlike other renditions of the Wasp, is situated vertically in this design. Said shank is capped with a boxwood accent at its junction to a deftly hand carved vulcanite saddle stem, comfortably bent. Dressed in a rich natural finish, the Double Wolf Paw-grade stummel displays handsome grain patterns around the bowl, showcasing the unique grain which olivewood is known for.