Topic: Pipe 5: NOV06 -SOLD-
Sold to Jessup, Maryland
This pipe, started out with an architectural influenced freehand, and became a taper an 1/8 Bent Tapered Brandy, or as the prince of Whales called them; "Cognac."
Pipe five is a more organic, in process and in result. It is more of a gourd shape and I am surprised how much of a an influence the bottle gourd ended up being... Organic even in its rim as it is slightly "depressed" in front to rear center. Neither is it entirely round at the rim. 
The life of pipe 5: Freehand>> six sided billiard>> four sided flat paneled square billiard>> Brandy. I learned that making a freehand pipe, you must not overplan it, to force a shape on to the wood is what making classic pipes is all about; not neccesarily a bad thing.
In fact, I believe that the reduction of mass produced pipes to freehands has taken away from all of our appreciation of the classics. Similarly, it has driven the price of Plateau up, and Ebuchon down. The best article to understanding what makes for good briar was published in 1985 by Pipe Smoker Magazine and written by R.D Field. If you take the time to read it you might noticed that the author places several variable even before whether or not the briar is Ebuchon or Plateau. Age of briar, contributing to tightness of grain is more imortant than whether or not the briar is Ebuchon or Plateau. He doesn't speak to which country yields the best wood, but he does place the gender of the plant as being more important than from what part of the root ball the piece was cut.
He even states that if you consider the weight of the wood to be important, with lightness being better, than you might want to consider the rootball from a male plant. Pipe 5 is a long but light pipe. Pipe 5 Lite if you will. But I can't imagine specifying female briar when placing an order. Do the harvesters or mills even know the gender of the plant. Fact is Female briar is tighter grained, denser and therefore heavier. If you smoke hot, you might want a heavier pipe more resistent to burnout. Anyway..
In my opinion, that to make a freehand is like righting a story. the classic shapes are the grammar, the language of pipemaking and I need to better learn that language. In a way freehands a bit to easy.
With so many classic shapes: round bowls, cylindrical bowls, bulldog shaped bowls, Conical Bowls, and Brandy glass shaed bowls like this pipe 
, the possibilities are endless. If the shapes are the grammar, than the other variables are the vocabulary. Those variables are length of shank & stem:
Shape (oval, round, square, diamond). Height of bowl, Rusticated or smoothe, wall thickness, Stem material, Stained or natural, Carbonized bowl or not, height of bowl, typ of bit, mounts or not, bent or not. How much? 1/8, 1/4 , full...Who made the pipe, from where the wood was obtained, age of wood...
You get my point, the opportunies are endless, even with the classics. Even a freehand shape is becoming a classic. The volcano is becomng a classic freehand shape. Wow! That said, Pipe 7 will be a volcano.Read about in Topic "Pipe 7." There will be surprise and I promise you it will be most original, at least I have never seen anything like what I have planned!
After three hours of shaping, Pipe 5 has taken on a new life. Its tending toward a classic shape, and away from a dutch-like Freehand. But I think you'll like it. I'm loving it. Pictures Saturday, you'll ee what I mean.
The trouble with rusticatation is that the pipe looks like sh!t before it looks good. this pipe No. 5 is looking less and less than what I had in mind. That's not neccesarily a bad thing. It is what it is.
So, I spent time fitting a new stem to the pipe, then shaping the shank to match the stem. So far the sand pit/blemish has not gone away and I started to think... Cindy Crawford has a "blemish" on her face but she's smokin'. I wouldn't throw her out of bed, and likewise I won't throw the pipe in the wastebasket either. That's just crazy!
Here you see Pipe 5 taken shape after the coping saw. The top will be round, and then there is a hip where it squares off a bit. see prior castle pics posted. 
...I'm still loving the shop pipe (Pipe 3) but the rum tobacco is so wet I added coke and a couple ice cubes, removed the stem, inserted straw and enjoyed it that way...
I mentioned the influence of my pyrographic experience on Pipe 6: Here is an example of my previous work:
The history of Britain is intricately linked with the White Cliffs from the Roman invasion to the assault made by Germany in both World Wars. The first recorded description of Dover describes the scene that Julius Caesar saw in 55 BC when, with two legions of soldiers, he arrived off Dover looking for a suitable landing place and ' saw the enemy's forces, armed, in position on all the hills there. At that point steep cliffs came down close to the sea in such a way that it is possible to hurl weapons from them right down to the shore. It seemed to me that the place was altogether unsuitable for landing.' (Caesar's Commentaries, Book IV.)
Pharos was built on the Western Heights, its remains were called in the 17th century the Bredenstone and by some, the Devil's Drop of Mortar. During excavation work for further fortifications of the site in 1861 the foundations of the tower were discovered and left exposed in the wall of the Officers' Quarters.
It was after the was that Castello (Castle) Pipes was born. It was 1947 and Carlo Scotti created the 
So, I did make the bowl a little deeper and am glad that I asked. I am also glad I listened! I have always believed, "If its worth doing, its worth doing right." On that note, I was reading in The Pipe Companion about Danish pipemakers. It mentions that they strive to make their pipes perfect.