That's a beautiful piece of bamboo Nate, and worked very skillfully onto the pipe. I see the bevel on the rim as an echo of the transitional shape from bamboo to stummel (and maybe again in the shape of the saddle.
You're right - it's a little pudgy, the widest part of the bowl is low. That pipe is 52 and you want to make it 19. (suggested lines in red).
For a "classic" billiard, it's proportionately too long. On the picture, the bowl height is taken in blue, run along the stem for a "theoretical" stummel. Measure the length of that in yellow, and double it (in purple) and that's your "billiard" length. Now because of bamboo action etc yours is long. Fine. Make a long one - I don't give a shit.
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
I think in this case, the thickness, the stout presentation of the bamboo is working against having a really long pipe though. All it winds up doing is making the shank seem really big, it's a little heavy compared to the bowl (or at least compared to the bowl if you really tighten it to billiard proper). So I see this as a battle between getting the shank length and thickness to present harmoniously with each other and against the bowl, and you didn't quite manage that here. But that's a really fussy criticism, and no one you show the pipe to is going to say "you know, I think that bamboo is a little fat for that bowl, ya know?"
I guess another way to say what I'm saying is that the pipe is neither stout nor delicate - it has elements of both, and I'd prefer it, it would have more "pow" if it went one way or the other.
But for a first bamboo effort, it's stupendous. Did you sleeve that bamboo or leave it "bamboo" inside?
PS not all sandblasts have to be Cooke-craggy. If you manage an even, pleasing texture, that's more important than winning some sort of trophy for depth. Not all stummels will take a real craggy blast (well) in the first place, and it takes time, skill and tools to do it. That's why it's special when it's done well. (And done NOT well, it ain't special at all). But not every pipe a guy makes on this journey is gonna be special. Some are just pipes, and I think that's fine.