Michael Parks V Smooth Blowfish Mermaid Estate Briar Pipe, Canadian Estates

Description

Michael Parks is an artisan pipe-maker from Canada. Parks is renowned for his high-grade pipes, as well as for his ability to create traditional and modern shapes, as well as sculptural pieces that further blend the line between smoking instruments and fine art.

When this particular Michael Parks pipe landed on my desk, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Yes, it’s a beautiful pipe, one that does, as mentioned, bur the line between a tool for smoking and a work of art. But what was I to call it? And what are these decorations, such as the four-pronged shank accent, or the mysterious “eye” on the pipe’s left side? Thankfully, Mr Parks himself was gracious enough to take me through the pipe’s design. As he explained, the shape was called a “Blowfish-Mermaid,” which makes sense given the flattened panels on the pipe’s right side, along with the “aquatic” aesthetic the overall form displays. The stem is ebonite, while the shank accent is Brazilian rosewood. The “eye” was an experiment by Parks using crushed mother of pearl, which Parks’ fans will likely recognize as an approach he later adopted for his stem inlays. The pipe is a grade V, which at the time this pipe was made (2004), was Parks’ highest in his system of ascending Roman numerals. In later years, Parks would expand the grading system up to VII, before changing his system altogether in 2022.

The condition is near-mint. The pipe appears to have been “babied,” as they say, with an obvious great deal of care having been given to its preservation.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.25″ / 31.75mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 68g