This is a continuation of where we left off last week with Part 1 – which can be read here, if you need to start from the beginning.

Brief intro again:

If all you have been doing is looking at & only buying older estate pipes, you may be missing out. There is a massive re-imagining of what pipe design is & what it can be, taking place right now. It’s pace is nothing short of amazing. It is as if a mini design explosion has occurred in the pipe world & new, unique & interesting design concepts are being created every day.

New design ideas will always generally fall into two categories. Workable new designs and those that simply do not.

New pipe design ideas take their form in a variety of ways. It can obviously come through a new pipe shape. It can be an idea for a visual pipe accessory. It can be a particular use of an adornment. New pipe design ideas are being created at this very moment & they are actively shaping the future of pipe making. Appreciating the design concept nonetheless does require a bit of reflection. Thoughtful analysis in fact. When you see these new designs, the first questions that should be asked are; Does the design work? Can it be better?

Believe it or not, but is these odd shapes that the Stanwell, Peterson, Savinelli and Big Ben pipe factory companies of the world will some day bring into their flock. Make no doubt about it, do not be surprised to see some portion of these designs in those companies pipe stables.

So if you don’t want to be surprised in 10 years when you see these new designs at a much greater level, beyond the individual artisan level, start following some of what is going on in this field today.

Here are some new design ideas, some of them still very raw but all very promising & interesting nonetheless.

Last week we were mid-way through the process of evaluating new pipe design ideas in the ‘Accessories/Adornments’ front. Let’s continue.

Michail Revyagin is again exploring adornments in fun new ways. Although this particular expression, the placement of red dots, is not in itself a specific design idea people may attach themselves to, it still highlights a new design direction of adding fun elements to the ‘rear’ part of the pipe & giving this area new & added interest.

Since we have been sticking around the rear pipe area, the next ‘new pipe design’ development reviews the new interest in treating the regular stem in a more interesting manner.

The stem & the area surrounding it, now has the ability to take an active role in the entire design of the pipe.

The stem & the attached accessory below it, in essence start the visual review of the pipe. The added layers are pushing down into the briar and grounding much of the remaining pipe design. It’s incredible to see. TobaccoDays wrote a specific blurb on Viktor Yashtylov’s stem design & reviewed the process through which his stems have gone through over the years. Starting from Viktor’s basic stems impacting the pipe in a regular manner, all the way to the beautiful type of stem expressions you see here. You can read about Viktor’s Stem Design Evolution here.

Another pipe-maker who often plays with the ebonite stem material is Boris Starkov.

Boris is always exploring new ways to have the stem aid his overall pipe designs.

A very exciting new area of pipe design is also taking shape in the ‘adornments’ arena but with a much heavier attention to general visual weight. Specifically, new materials are being added in large chunks to parts of the pipe shape. New materials beyond my beloved horn.

Strange and odd materials get mixed together with polymers, which are essentially synthetic plastics. The concoction dries and the results are absolutely striking. There is no doubt about it that more and more pipe-makers will soon be playing a lot more than usual with this new area of pipe design.

Once the mixture dries, the artisan has an entire new block of ‘medium’ to play with. To add to any portion of the pipe, either front or rear. The level of interest sky-rockets. Technically this idea is not new. Many other pipe-makers have done this before. Roman however is taking it to such a whole new level that he gives us the opportunity to really see the potential of this new pipe design idea.

This particular artisan and his experimenting with these materials, as you see them, is literally in it’s infancy. This area of pipe design has just begun it’s design exploration. There is so much more to come in this ‘new materials added to pipe design’ arena.

Michael Parks has been experimenting with this new material process on his pipes for many years. Many other artisan’s are also getting bored with the standard materials that make up pipes. As seen in the next example.

In my mind, that concludes the majority of what I believe are the most significant & the most important ‘new pipe design idea’ advances taking place in the pipe world today. It is these general design ideas, shown to you through various examples from various artisans, that will lead the design charge moving forward.

Pipe design is changing. Sometimes and very often this change is going into new directions that are difficult to accept.

Visually speaking, one looks at many of these pipe design ideas and one wants to turn their head away. Ignoring these ideas however will be futile. These pipe design ideas are good & because of that, they are actively being worked on & it is these ideas that will eventually shape the future of pipe design. It is in our interest to neither ignore them, nor to dismiss them.

It is these design ideas that we will see the most of in the future and their further exploration will only refine them further and make them eventually that much more appealing. It’s all very exciting really & thank the heavens that we have artisan’s pushing themselves & pipe design in general, into new directions. Imagine what it would be like without these new advances?

I want to end this piece by looking at two final shapes I have seen this past year that caught my eye for various reasons.

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