To say that Roman Kovalev has led an interesting life would be something of an understatement. Polyglot, paediatric neurologist (hence "Doctor's"), race-car builder and main team driver, owner of two distilleries, and a man who founded an espresso supply and barista training company because he wasn't happy with the local coffee, the man has certainly led life to the full.

An aficionado of high grade briars for decades, Kovalev's obsession with the pipes themselves was often secondary to understanding the man/woman who made it; their personality, their creative processes. Untold hundreds of pipes were smoked and countless hours of research/correspondence took place. In Roman's own words, "This process was my 'pipe school.'" While Dr. Kovalev's greatest admiration tends to lie with the Japanese masters, his pipes show a staggering breadth of aesthetic. Roman's desired results from sandblasting couldn't be achieved from normal blasters, so he made a unique device/system, 100% of his own design ("Aeroblast"). In search of interesting accessory material, he purchased powerful equipment and started experimenting with dozens of polymers, eventually settling on one which uses grass, moss, nuts, and various seeds as the media for polymerization. Whether your new Doctor's Pipe is briar or strawberry wood, you are investing in something both beautiful and revolutionary.