Looking for some insight

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

I was wondering if you guys would have an opinion on this shape. It is made by someone you may know, but I tried to disguise the "branding" so we can focus on the shape of the pipe(who made it isnt important, no, it wasnt me). I know it makes it hard to pick out the lines, especially at the bottom but what do you think? I made A similar pipe recently, but in my "style". what makes these lines appealing or unappealing to you? This isnt a trap or a setup, i dont plan on revealing the maker, and if you know or think you know please don't reply publicly.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Ha! I know who it is cus' I saw this pipe today! Everything about this pipe is cut really well- there is certainly a lot of finesse that goes into a shape like this though. It's VERY easy to leave to much meat on the pipe. I think ********** did a great job with it.

[sandahlpipe]

The front of the bowl looks a bit too flat and the stem taper is too steep and changes direction. Otherwise, I think it looks good.

[The Smoking Yeti]

I've got mixed feelings on the front of the bowl line I think more angles are helpful here. This pipe was classified as a billiard- which is wrong, it's a dublin. I see what you mean by the shank taper though.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

I was confused by the billiard label too. Maybe its a little ambiguous and somewhere between a dublin and a billiard? Something seemed off, and I wasnt sure if it was just lightyears beyond my capability, or some of the lines were truly weird.

[wdteipen]

I like the shape. It's definitely a Dublin though and the stem bend could be done better. It kinks in the middle instead of a more graceful, flowing curve that it could be. Still a handsome shape and pipe.

[wdteipen]

It's almost a graceful combination between a Stanwell and a Peterson shape-wise.

[BobR]

My gut feeling is it's not esthetically appealing. YMMV.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

Thats it! i thought it was the billiard/dublin thing, but its the shank/stem lines along with the silver band that looks like A peterson.
bob, i think the same thing every time i see a volcano. It always looks like a billiard that is stuck inside an unfinished block.

[Sasquatch]

This is the kind of pipe I make pretty often, and the kinds of errors I make pretty often are showing up here too.

Overall: Proportions are pretty good if a little chunky, a little Italian, but the whole vibe is not a lean English pipe so that's cool. It's a dublin, not a billiard. There's no arguing that it's a billiard. Billiards are not larger at the rim then in the mid section.

Stem: button looks great, the line of the bottom of the stem is perfect, nice curve. Top of the stem has an "elbow" where it transitions onto the metal. Works on a straight pipe, on a bent you need a bit more grace in the shaping, especially tough in conjunction with the band. I'm not super fond of how it's bent, the bend moves back into a straight section toward the button, I'd rather see the curve continued/hinted at all the way.

Shank: Works with the overall aesthetic and the slow curve is nice. Doesn't go far enough imho and the heel/chin of the bowl is still too pronounced. "Castello" rather than "Stanwell" in this way.

So this looks like a quality piece to me, but not a perfect piece in certain ways, whatever that's supposed to mean. And anyone who has tried to put a metal band (which looks very nicely done) on a sweeping curve knows it's nearly impossible to get all the elements right.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

You guys have pointed out what was bothering me, but I couldn't place. The abrupt bend was obvious to me, the other things are visible, but hard to articulate why they look odd. Thanks for the input Sas!