Some fun info about the shape:
Kevin Costner (the actor) "invented" it in the made-the-world-aware sense. He was making a movie, thought his character---a guy named Devil Anse---needed a pipe, so he went to an antique store just down the road from the shoot and came back with a nastyass basket pipe that was either one piece by design, or had lost its stem (it's never been clear). The jaunty raked bowl was why he chose it, though, and his instincts were good because a classic was born.
Regarding orific stem comfort, I have a number of them, and though I can't stand P-lips, have no problem at all with the orific. Go figure.
As for Ryan Alden, he's the PipeWorld's only carver who's bigger and meaner than Canadia's Mighty Sasquatch, so be ready to run for your life whenever he's around. He not only eats people too, but doesn't even cook them first. :twisted: