Pipes That Stopped You in Your Tracks

[hauntedmyst]

We've all seen them, some pipe that either in the store or more likely on line that even though they a style you were looking but something made you stop and go "Wow" I've had that a few time recently. Some times we've stumbled across pipes that the carver did such a good job of capturing it in a new way, it made us appreciate his artistry. In other cases, it how they drawing out what was in the briar, you can't help but be impressed with their their Ken Barnes like ability to read the block and get the best from it.

This is one from Great Estate Pipes. Chance always does a beautiful job representing his pipes but this one just took my breath away.



These two Rolando's have really made me appreciate his late, great skill.




Then there is Michael Parks, who should never be allowed to touch another piece of briar. No because he isn't talented but because when you have superpowers, you should use them flying around the world stopping crime, not making pipes. These caught my eye (and most of you have seen them) years ago but they leave me in awe.
I'm not a volcano guy but I would be happy to have the Rolando and Parks on myself.





He calls this a Cavalier Winged Volcano. I call all his pipes a discouragement to would be carvers with low self esteem because when they seen it, they think "I'll never be that good" And 99.999% of them are right. The man sandblasted wings on a pipe! Come on now! I hope they are all in a museum.

 

[shanez]

Google Hiroyuki Tokutomi

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

I saw a Nording Woodcock in a picture spread of upland gear in Pointing Dog Journal. That started the little snowball rolling down the mountain. Strange but true.

 

[olkofri]

Too many to count.

Now, if this thread is about "pipes that stopped me in my tracks and made me pull out the wallet and buy them", well, then I think I could come up with a few examples.

 

[shanez]

I saw a Nording Woodcock in a picture spread of upland gear in Pointing Dog Journal. That started the little snowball rolling down the mountain. Strange but true.

The Nording Hunter series are a great series to collect. Beautiful and most are not insanely priced.

 

[HawkeyeLinus]

The Nording Hunter series are a great series to collect. Beautiful and most are not insanely priced.

I agree! Ended up with a few more, the Anniversary Hunter is great and the 2020 Cheetah is nice smoking! I thought I would like the Fox but just really didn’t the looks once I got it. Still brand new and may now gift to a friend locally for Xmas as a “secret Santa” of my own doing. He works for me and is a long time pipe smoker but he has no clue I’ve picked up the activity and will never know who gave it to him.

 

[hauntedmyst]

Google Hiroyuki Tokutomi

I have! Some are outstanding but not mind blowing the way some of these are.

 

[warren]

I've seen pipes which made me think, "Wow! Nice execution but, that's an ugly piece of work." Outrageous, clumsy, to my eye, never results in a sale. Any pipe that has appealed to my eye, then passed the other criteria are sitting in my ashtray or on a rack in my home.

I'm waaaaay to conservative in my tastes to find any of the pipes above to be eye catching, even though I can admire the workmanship. that's why so many variations on a basic smoking tool are available. Everyone's eye is different.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Well....

 

[shanez]

I've seen pipes which made me think, "Wow! Nice execution but, that's an ugly piece of work." Outrageous, clumsy, to my eye, never results in a sale. Any pipe that has appealed to my eye, then passed the other criteria are sitting in my ashtray or on a rack in my home.

I'm waaaaay to conservative in my tastes to find any of the pipes above to be eye catching, even though I can admire the workmanship. that's why so many variations on a basic smoking tool are available. Everyone's eye is different.

Clumsy is a very good word for pipes that look good but just don't make the cut

 

[OzPiper]

I've seen pipes which made me think, "Wow! Nice execution but, that's an ugly piece of work." Outrageous, clumsy, to my eye, never results in a sale. Any pipe that has appealed to my eye, then passed the other criteria are sitting in my ashtray or on a rack in my home.

I'm waaaaay to conservative in my tastes to find any of the pipes above to be eye catching, even though I can admire the workmanship. that's why so many variations on a basic smoking tool are available. Everyone's eye is different.

I'm totally with @warren on this !

I can admire the thought, design and execution of those pieces, but they fall into the "totally fanciful" category for me.

I'm more a Toyota rather than Bugatti sort of guy.

 

[hauntedmyst]

I'm totally with @warren on this !

I can admire the thought, design and execution of those pieces, but they fall into the "totally fanciful" category for me.

I'm more a Toyota rather than Bugatti sort of guy.

I am too but this isn't about pipes you would necessarily buy but pipes that are simply stunning in design, artistry and execution. Just because you drive a Toyota doesn't mean a Lambo can't take your breath away.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Lambo

Those really never did anything for me; not really a car guy. If you're going up to that kind of money though, I'll take one of these over a Lamborghini.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think that art and functional pipes are sometimes confused. And there's nothing wrong in the least with the artistic side, I enjoy viewing them. I simply fall well into the functional side of things. With that said, thank goodness for the artists and those who push the envelope and have expanded on the traditional shapes. Otherwise, we'd all be smoking boring freaking smooth billiards

 

[DanWil84]

I'm on the same side as @hoosierpipeguy ,the artistic side of these pipes is marvelous and can be appreciated, but as a smoking instrument I prefer a more practical shape. Not to knock of any one's artisticly shaped pipes they smoke.

So to answer the question, a well made straight grain or beautiful blasted traditional shape with a quality stem is something that stops me in my tracks.

 

[Morrison Jeremiah]

I'd rather have bangers and mash than nouveau cuisine.

 

[kcghost]

I've only seen two pipes that blew me away and I didn't buy either because they simply were out of my price range. For a Joe Skoda carved calabash with turqouise accents. The other was a matched set from Brad Pohlman of bent smooth and sandblast billiards. I really loved the sandblasted one. Man, it was gorgeous.

 

[OzPiper]

I'd rather have bangers and mash than nouveau cuisine

A few years ago I had a meal with a couple of friends in Singapore at a restaurant that was rated as the 3rd best in Asia at the time. Every dish was exquisitely presented and photo-worthy. It was also the most expensive meal I'd ever had at that point.

Spoke with those 2 friends recently about that meal - there was not a single dish any of us could recall the flavour of. On the other hand there were a few meals eaten at hawker stalls at a fraction of the cost that we remembered fondly.

 

[jpberg]

This Tokutomi blows me away every time I see it - I really can’t think of another pipe that has stopped me in my tracks.
So Bo Nordh gives you some briar that he’s been saving and you decide to make a pipe….

 

[mikethompson]

Gifted to me from a forum member, its easily the most beautifully coloured Meer I've ever seen.