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COMMENT:
You know that I do not use the word "freehand" lightly; only when I'm truly "stuck" do I use the term. In this case, however, I cannot NOT use the word "freehand", while pretending to do the pipe justice. I believe Claudio started making this fabulous shape in the past few years, and I first time offered it for sale, it was sold immediately; the second one I offered, again, was gone in a blink, and so did the third, and so on. This should not come as a surprise, since I regard this innovative shape as an indication of Claudio's never-ending creativity and strive to always offer some new and exciting. The shape here can only be described as "Freehand", in my opinion. The whole trick and beauty lies in that "groove" that runs vertically over the bowl from one side to the other and whose base goes lower than the bowl level, creating a "heel". Notice also that the shank is quite long, measuring about 56mm (2.2 inches). The pipe is fitted with a saddle mouthpiece, which is bent at the right angle to allow for as much balance as possible, and indeed the pipe is quite well-balanced both to the eye and in the hand. The grain is a mixture of Flame Grain around the bowl and fabulous Bird's Eye on the bowl top. So far, this pipe comes in the highest grade I have seen when it comes to this particular shape, and I sure am quite happy to have snatched it from Claudio's hands before someone else did. |
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