I have been dreaming up an Alaska themed 7 day set for some time, including materials I've harvested myself such as moose and blacktail deer antler, gold, pipeline steel, caribou, muskox horn, and more. I have finally decided to begin the commission of this set with the first entry, the artist for which is Josh Ronish with Dragon Briars. This set will encompass Alaskan history, as well as the history of my life here, and for the first entrant I decided to go with the pipe that will be the most ancient representation of Alaskan history in the set.
Though I did not harvest it myself, the Alaska themed material for this one is Mammoth Ivory, used as an accent band on the stem. Alaska was one of the last strongholds for this Pleistocene beast, some surviving in the Arctic regions near Alaska until as recently as 3,700 years ago. As many of the materials this set will include are from animals I have harvested as a hunter, I felt this was an appropriate homage to the Alaskan hunters of the past that would take on these massive creatures with little more than spears.
As an additional cool factor, I figured if ancient materials were in the works for this pipe, then some 5000 year old morta should do the trick for the stummel, whitewashed for an added aesthetic.
In picking the style I decided to stay traditional and stick with one of my favorite shapes, the large billiard. This baby clocks in at 6.5 inches, 1.74 ounces, with a 1.75 x 0.86 chamber. SEM German Ebonite Stem. Can't wait for this to arrive, so I can load it up with some extra, extra vintage tobacco ?
Huge thanks go out to the talented Josh Ronish for a perfect execution of my "Fossil on Fossil" vision:
Though I did not harvest it myself, the Alaska themed material for this one is Mammoth Ivory, used as an accent band on the stem. Alaska was one of the last strongholds for this Pleistocene beast, some surviving in the Arctic regions near Alaska until as recently as 3,700 years ago. As many of the materials this set will include are from animals I have harvested as a hunter, I felt this was an appropriate homage to the Alaskan hunters of the past that would take on these massive creatures with little more than spears.
As an additional cool factor, I figured if ancient materials were in the works for this pipe, then some 5000 year old morta should do the trick for the stummel, whitewashed for an added aesthetic.
In picking the style I decided to stay traditional and stick with one of my favorite shapes, the large billiard. This baby clocks in at 6.5 inches, 1.74 ounces, with a 1.75 x 0.86 chamber. SEM German Ebonite Stem. Can't wait for this to arrive, so I can load it up with some extra, extra vintage tobacco ?
Huge thanks go out to the talented Josh Ronish for a perfect execution of my "Fossil on Fossil" vision: