Positives: I nearly had to discard this one - in fact, I had discarded it in creative frustration (Those who think that "artistic temperament" is a too-cutesy term should see me throw briar across the shop sometime). I reached a point that I just didn't know what to do with it, so I set it aside. A couple of weeks later, I picked it up randomly and knew exactly how to finish it, and voila! Obviously, the pipe's major selling points are grain and unique design, probably in that order. It's a really stunning piece of briar - if not for the occasional tiny pinprick spots, it would have been a Minaria grade. There is a reason that one usually sees pipes with elaborate bridgework and hard-to-reach areas with a natural finish, and that is that an unstained finish hides scratches. If the surface is left unstained, it can be sanded relatively smooth and waxed, whereas with a contrast-stained pipe like this, all the recesses had to be buffed and polished also, until no hairline scratches remained. I made my way through the entire unabridged audiobook of Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red Mars" solely in finishing this pipe, and those who've seen the book know it is like a brick! The bird's-eye across the front of the pipe is particularly striking. The stem is handcut from a specially-cast acrylic mixture. Interestingly, despite looking wildly impractical, it is actually quite comfortable to hold in a left-handed grip, and it will sit upright on its own (So no need to hunt for a specialized pipe rest!)

Negatives: The aforementioned pinprick flaws, which would require some serious searching to find. Also, the bowl walls taper sharply, and like most such designs, are thinner near the bottom, so some care during smoking is advised until a good cake is built up lest one suffer the "bulldog effect".

Dimensions:

Bowl Type: 2.3 cm conical

Airhole Size: 5/32"

Total Weight incl Stem: 85.7 grams

Bowl Height: 6.5 cm(Bottom to lowest bowl edge)

Tobacco Chamber Depth: 4.7 cm

Length from Bowl Base to end of Bit: 18 cm