Most Underrated Shape

[deathmetal]

Pre-PAD:
"The most underrated shape is this one from my favorite pipe!"
Post-PAD:
"The most underrated shape is the one someone else bought out from under me on eBay!"

 

[sparrowhawk]

What an informative thread! There are shapes refered to here I'm utterly unfamiliar with and should scribble down to explore them more. But a while ago, sensing I might be getting in a rut with my fetish for billiards, I thought the Prince interesting, and eventually got this nice Peterson, a Kapps Royal:

Problem is, the bowl the exactly the same dimensions as you'd find on a Peterson churchwarden, a little small, and no bend which I understand makes a true prince. So I got a Rossi prince with a larger chamber; a few days later the finish started to bubble off. But while I had it, it was a great smoke, and just now need to know where to get a good, economical one. I'm also exploring the Author as another neglected shape.

 

[mso489]

Less common shapes are rewarding, something to learn to appreciate and add to the stable when you have many/most of the good old traditional shapes.

 

[iamn8]

The regal Diplomat, often forgotten and/or lumped together with the prince.

 

[mso489]

Diplomats are attractive, but overshadowed by authors and princes. I have a nice example of the diplomat by Johs, a slightly bent blast. I think it is sometimes hard to differentiate diplomats -- they have to be fairly precise in the tradition of the shape or their shape becomes debatable, which may be the problem. You can do a lot of different variations on a bulldog, and it still has the marks of a bulldog, but with diplomats that's more difficult.
On volcanos, the Pete bent brandy B11 is so conical, it has a volcano look, but I think it still remains a brandy.