A Better Pipe Smoking Community

I think it's very nice! It's not really my kind of pipe, but I can see that the job is very well done.

One thing that I would have done differently (a part that I myself has to be careful about when carving a pipe) is the transition from shank to bowl. I would simply have made it a bit sharper. Just a bit more pronounced. But that's me. ;)

A truly lovely piece. Nice burl, tasteful accent and a great looking stem. A fine pocket pipe to show off. At home I enjoy my larger pieces, but my smaller ones get more use because I don't make as much quality time here for them.

Very nicely done!

What a lovely pipe! I think I agree with pipepoet regarding sharpening the transition to the bowl, but I really like the lines. The workmanship looks superb.

I'm going to fly in the face of conventional wisdom here and express my view that the bowl to stem transition is lovely as it is. More like the transition of a woman's shoulder to neck, a lovely flowing line. it speaks well of the strength of the juncture. I'll ditto Muddler on the grain of the briar, just beautiful, and the stain brings it out nicely. What material is the stem extension? The color compliments the briar.
I might not have put the umbrella on the mouthpiece, but that's just personal preference. The military style bit looks great to me otherwise.

looking piece. Love the lines and finisk. Great workmanship... .

the stem/shank transition much, much, much tighter. On this pipe I felt that the shape (and also the flow) would be compromised. The shank extension is acrylic, btw.
Thanks for all the comments. It's good to sometimes just hear what other people think.

... just the way it is! A good looking pipe.

I really like the shape, and the grain of the wood is insane!

I guess the transition between shank and bowl is a personal issue but I just have to agree with pipepoet and muddler. The definition should be a bit sharper. As for the military stem, I personally think the circumference of the "fat" part should be a bit smaller and more in line with the taper of the shank. But maybe that's just me.
Otherwise a job well done! The fit and finish seems superb.

Charl,
I feel that this pipe it's a spotless implementation of a draw that should have been worked a bit more.
To me it looks that you were going for a volcano or maybe a zulu but changed your mind somewhere in between.

I should keep my mouth shut, I always feel bad when I criticize something that I can't do better. And this is one of that cases, I'd be a happy man if I could make a pipe this bad... :-) or even the stem, maybe... :-o