A couple of years ago, some of you might remember, Stephen Downey, pipe maker par excellence, built for me a special pipe, made with my specifications, which was dubbed "The Vampire's Wand." The stummel was covered with little bats, my illustrator's trademark, actually drawn by me and tranfered to the stummel before sandblasting by a secret technique Stephen developed. Well, about a year ago, I started musing that this remarkable pipe needed a companion with some variations. So I bounced off the idea of a second Vampire's Wand, and forgetting the headaches the first one gave him, agreed to do it again. And a couple of days ago, Vampire Wand 2 appeared in my mailbox:
This sister pipe has a longer shank and stem, a taller and larger chamber, a fitting companion to the original. Best of all, Stephen tells me the briar for this pipe was tougher than the first, making it necessary to stain it numeous times to get the right shade of black. Stephen Downey outdoes himself again!
This sister pipe has a longer shank and stem, a taller and larger chamber, a fitting companion to the original. Best of all, Stephen tells me the briar for this pipe was tougher than the first, making it necessary to stain it numeous times to get the right shade of black. Stephen Downey outdoes himself again!
