Billiard #1

The title is really a little misleading, because I'd made several billiards prior to this one, but most were either given away as presents or used in tests and never saw the light of day. This was the first of a series I started so that I could put out a few classical shapes and see how I was at it. There's a common, though very incorrect, opinion in the pipe world that freehand makers are incapable of making classical shapes, and I thought it might be worthwhile to shine a little light on this preconception. In the process, I found I had a great time with these shapes, simple as they were. This pipe was the first I finished in the year 2000, and resides in the collection of Rob DiStasio.