Teddy Pipes: Pipe Study

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2. ... Origins of the "Swimming Elephant"... (continued)

In an Eagle 50 elephant's foot, streamlined straight-grain panels curve backwards and impart considerable forward energy to the bowl, which "balloons" forward as a result. Yet the stiffness of the shank (emphasized by the 45 degree angle at which it hits the bowl) and the straight rim-line give the bowl a far more upright and balanced shape that that found on the "Swimming Elephant." Note also that the bulge in the front of the bowl creates a "chest" on the Eagle 50, while on the swimmer, the rounded chunkiness of the bowl hangs lower, like a belly.

A wonderful, partial-sandblast elephant's foot presents an altogether different sort of comparison. Here, the smooth and beautifully-shaped front half of the bowl creates sinuous curves which flow downwards and backwards, and extend beneath the sandblast portion of the bowl. Before "Swimming Elephant," I thought of this pipe as the most forward-moving elephant's foot I'd seen. Yet, because the shank enters the bowl a little higher, and the side-panel travels slightly more downwards than backwards, and the top of the bowl remains relatively flat ... the partial sandblast variation remains just a little more sedentary in its tone than the swimmer.

However, the differences in energy between the pipes are subtle and your perception can change slightly depending upon the angle at which you hold each piece. The photos below bring out to different degrees the similarities and differences between these two closely-related elephant-foot pipes. In each photo, I line up a different element of the pipe and position the camera at a slightly different angle.

1. The camera looks from the side (and slightly rearward) while the rims of each pipe line up roughly parallel and horizontal to the floor. (Since the swimmer's top is quite curved, it's difficult to be sure when the rim is "most flat" across). Sandblast looks quite svelt and flowing, Smooth at its most sedentary.

3. The same angle-of-view as above, but here the stems line up parallel to each other (approximating the position when they are being smoked). Note that in this position, the shank on the swimmer doesn't enter the bowl at as steep an angle, nor does the side panel appear to curl backwards as much. Swimmers lines have come alive and it is Sandblast who is looking more staid:

4. Here, the pipes are arranged so that the front curve of each panel more or less echoes the other. To my eye, this presents the fairest view of both pipes, revealing the graceful flow of the partial sandblast and the slightly more energetic lines of the "Swimming Whale":

Teddy has been carving (and "improvising") the elephant's foot shape for years and I have found several pictures of elephant-foot pipes with "low-entry" shanks. But the bowls on these earlier pieces have not looked so flexible, nor have they had quite as much forward motion as the "Swimming Elephant."

For example, consider another Elephant's Foot Grade 45 that Teddy brought to Chicago. The pipe's fluted bowl and the placement of its shank seem similar to the swimmer's. Yet to my eye, this other Grade 45 looks slightly less fluid because of the angle at which the shank enters the bowl and because of the more traditional, upright stance of the bowl. (Photos of this second, Eagle 45, come from the Smoker's Haven web site.)

I sometimes find the shanks on traditional elephant-foot pipes to be a little too straight and rigid. (The versions I've seen from Bo seem particularly stiff.) Teddy often balances this tone by adding considerable flexibility to the bowl, and sure enough, in this Grade 45 the curves of the rim closely resemble those on the "Swimming Elephant." But in the latter pipe, Teddy adds a greater swell to the belly and a more dramatic backwards sweep to the side panel.

The two Eagle 45's side-by-side