It's very rare that I enjoy an artist working past 1930.  There are some,  of course,  but they're usually inspired by and deal very deeply in the skills that made, say, the academic classicists so powerful and compelling.  One of the current facets of art that still manages to grab me is woodcarving.  There are so many people doing wonders in wood (though still infinitesimally fewer than there were in the "olden days").  I've also fallen in love with the art of pipemaking,  and there are a legion of guys making wonderful things to puff tobacco from.  This is what brought me to this great craftsman,  Sidrit Skender Vaqari...he's got skills.

Born in Tirana,  Albania in 1982,  Sidrit studied sculpture at the fine arts academy there.  He's been a professional carver for fifteen years,  but with the incredibly mature skills that he puts to use in these pieces of practical art,  it seems like he should be a wizened old man!  His education in sculpture really shows in his eye for proportion,  and his taste in subject matter is quite broad;  everything from Michelangelo's David,  to the warrior Dwarf Gimli from the Fellowship of the Rings.  It's very inspiring stuff.  The professional European and Turkish pipemakers really put a great deal of time and imagination into their work,  and Sidrit is very much of that old school tradition...in spite of his youth and full-arm tattoos!  Look at the detailing in the Gimli pipe below;  the beard braids alone are exceptionally imaginative.   It's great work.  I imagine they must also be a pleasure to smoke,  as well,  so if you're interested in owning one of these masterpieces in briar wood,  click on this link HERE and/or HERE (if you're on Facebook).  He's a very nice guy and responds to inquiries quickly and politely.

 Recently,  and by that I mean the last two or three years,  I've taken to smoking a pipe.  I own three of them  and they're basically these fascinating works of art.  I like the German styles,  but there are hundreds of different basic types, and thousands of variations.  As a big fan and a student of history (informally but fanatically),  I've seen pipes in the hands of every type of interesting character all through time.  It's the same thing that attracted me to chess and Nine Men's Morris,  in spite of the fact that I had no previous interest in games whatsoever.

I've never been a smoker, either.  Cigarettes smell terrible, they make your clothing smell terrible, they taste terrible,  they're addictive, and quite, quite, expensive.  Pipes, on the other hand,  have to be purchases just once,  and if you're a casual smoker, like me,  it costs next to nothing.  Also,  pipe tobacco smells delicious,  and it makes your clothing smell nice.  Also also,  one doesn't inhale pipe smoke,  but puff it into the mouth for the flavour...then you can blow smoke rings like billio.  Or magic ships,  if you have Gandalf-level skills.  All of mine are wood,  briar and others,  but someday in the near future I plan on getting some clay and also Meerschaum pipes.  If they're good enough for Sherlock Holmes,  then I'm in good company.

Here are some pipe-related works by Ernst_Müller, Abraham Teniers, Josef Wagner, Carl Spitzweg, Wilhelm Benz, Eduard von Grützner, Emile Jean Horace & others.