Vladimir Grechukhin has produced a striking number of Blowfish over the course of his pipemaking career. I don't simply mean that it's a shape that he makes often, so much as he has a wide repertoire of renditions of the shape--perhaps more so than any other carver who comes to mind. Grechukhin's interpretation of the Blowfish ranges from clean and minimalistic to the more sculptural and stylized version that we see here. Thanks to the ample and exceptionally oriented grain, this particular specimen merited Grechukhin's 'G' grade.

— Joshua Burgess