Chris Asteriou: Smooth Acorn with Bamboo Carving Tobacco Pipe

Since 2015, Smokingpipes has hosted the American Pipe-Making Exposition, celebrating the ingenuity and talent of artisan carvers across the United States. However, in 2024 the Exposition expanded to include all pipe makers around the world — the Global Pipe-Making Exposition, the first of its kind. Though broadened in participation, the Expo's format remained consistent with previous years: Artisans designed and fashioned pipes centered on a singular theme, distinct to each year, expressing the motif according to their own creative visions. For the first Global Pipe-Making Exposition, we returned to the Expo's very first theme: bamboo.

Eschewing the conventional use of bamboo, Chris Asteriou's Expo pipe doesn't actually feature the organic accent. Instead, the Greek artisan has hand-carved the briar shank to resemble the detail and intricacy of three knuckles of bamboo. It creates an illusionary aesthetic, resembling true bamboo in silhouette and only revealing its true nature under the light. Even then, though, Asteriou's precision and accuracy make it difficult to distinguish, as each knuckle is meticulously carved and the texture is even that of bamboo. Moreover, he's shaped the bowl to match the shank's organic motif, revealing a heel-spurred Acorn design that curves inward at the transition to further enhance the rim's domed aesthetic. Stunning grain wraps the bowl in a gorgeous contrast stain, and the hand-cut vulcanite stem offers a hint of contrast via a rich, Dijon hue.