Positives: The exact opposite of Poker #28 - creative instead of conventional, fragile instead of rugged. I won't get into the styling here, as I suspect people will either love it or hate it, but suffice to say that it represents a shot at making a Halloween pipe that suits practical use - indeed, it is similar in proportions and design to any number of Danish snail-type shapes, but I hope I managed to subvert the form sufficiently to show my own style (I've been really interested in shape intersections lately, for some reason). The sandblast is very nice - crisp and sharp and showing off a great display of age rings, and the smooth bird's-eye side is striking. Also, I love the handcut acrylic stem! I made this from a rod that was gifted to me by a very helpful French pipemaker. Alas, it was the only piece I had and he has no more, so this is the ONLY pipe that I'll ever have with this stem material. Knowing that the pipe was likely to be hand-held only, I made the bit much thinner than usual, utilizing a wider 1.2mm passage instead of my usual 2+mm. The flow is balanced so it will smoke the same, but it does offer a thinner bit. The airhole is perfectly centered as it enters the bowl. I mention this because I know someone will pick this pipe up at a show and say, "Hey, look, this airhole is off-center!". It is not - it is an optical illusion caused by the fact that the airhole enters from a different angle than usual. In fact, both mortise and airhole do not follow the centerline of the pipe, but follow the shape instead. Laying out the various drilling lines on this pipe was quite tricky - the buyer can amuse himself for hours figuring out what is properly "up" for the chamber, for instance (It's a bit like a much more complex version of my Ibex shape in trickiness). As always, though, a cleaner passes easily!

Negatives: The thinner bit, as noted above, is inherently more fragile. I would NOT recommend this pipe to anyone prone to hard-clenching their stems, as it would almost certainly crack. Besides, the weight distribution is entirely antithetical to clenching - all the weight is out front, at the end of that thin wand stem. Also, the thinner bit design doesn't like extra-fluffy pipecleaners, so stick to standards-only.

Dimensions:

Bowl Type: 2.2 cm cylindrical

Airhole Size: 5/32"

Total Weight incl Stem: 87.7 grams

Bowl Height: 4.5 cm(Bottom to lowest bowl edge)

Tobacco Chamber Depth: 3.5 cm

Length from Bowl Base to end of Bit: 15 cm