Ping Zhan: Smooth Acorn with Bamboo and Boxwood Tobacco Pipe

Since 2015, Smokingpipes has held the American Pipe Making Exposition, a celebration of America's finest artisans who gather together a bespoke selection of their best work, all revolving around a central theme. For 2024, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Expo, Smokingpipes has expanded participation to include entrants from around the world in what will henceforth be known as the Global Pipe Making Exposition. Fittingly, 2024's theme is bamboo, the same as the first Expo, and it's an opportunity for carvers worldwide to show off their most inventive, innovative compositions.

Chinese artisan Ping Zhan's more than a decade of experience has contributed to an extremely precise and highly organic style that takes inspiration from both the Danish and Japanese schools of pipe design. His penchant for organicism is reflected immediately by the construction of this Acorn, whose silhouette is punctuated by bespoke details that work to stylistically fuse the natural with the manmade. Remarkably lengthy, at more than seven inches long, much of this pipe's reach is thanks to the four knuckles of bamboo that extend its shank significantly, continuing a subtle upward curve before the dense grass is met by a boxwood junction accent and the sleek saddle stem of black vulcanite. That's not enough for Zhan, however, as he's used the shank and boxwood to continue a pair of natural divots in the bamboo's texture, a small addition to the composition in comparison to the painstaking detail with which Zhan has carved the shank and stem base: both perfectly emulating the look of an actual bamboo knuckle, down to the minuscule divots surrounding the small nodules around the knuckle. Not only is this extremely difficult to achieve from a carving standpoint, but it's difficult to naturally balance alongside the organic rhythm of the bamboo, something achieved here with ease.

Up front, the bowl stands on a sweeping heel that pushes the fore up and into prominence, with the walls forming a triangular shape as they flare out to a broad, domed, and dipped rim. In silhouette, however, the walls take on a Strawberry-like shape that's reminiscent of some of Zhan's takes on the Fugu, though with a significant plumpness about the rim and high-set waist that keeps it comfortable in hand. From the smoker's perspective, one can see the walls' broad expanse at the aft gradually taper to the rounded fore point, easing the eye along the bowl and showcasing a truly remarkable symmetry. With most overtly and expressly organic shapes, there's an expected degree of intentional asymmetry about them that enhances this organicism, making the symmetry displayed by this pipe a true standout as it does nothing to detract from the effect of Zhan's exactingly organic carving. Dressing the stummel is a warm auburn stain, the smooth finish unveiling a thick strip of cross grain that wraps around the rim and most of the left flank, while a vast ocean of birdseye dominates the right side: all contrasted by the pale tones of the boxwood and the darker hues of the bamboo.