Baroque Pi

Trying to get an unusual take on a classic symbol...does it work?

IMAGE LINK: http://s329.photobucke​t.com …ia/broque%20Pi_​3.jpg.html

I'd suggest going more towards natural or unnatural. The current treatment seems surreal, with some natural and artificial elements.

Every stroke of the symbol is lit from a different direction. It's fine that it's a 3D treatment like extruded toothpaste, that suggests a natural material. But, it's in an environment with lots of "unnatural" cues, like several directions of light, smoke only in the corners.

Natural:
Light from one direction. This will help create a consistent illusion of depth.
Smooth off the right end of the symbol crossbar at the top. A soft extruded material is going to be blobby at the end.
Smoke dispersed through the frame, like we're looking through a natural hole/eddy in the smoke.

Unnatural:
Glowing Pi symbol?
Smoke vortex?
Unnatural light source(s), a hard source, laser(s)?
Some sort of circle symbol with a radius line and formula?

It's an interesting project!

Your points are spot on...too little time spent on the details.
But the more I look at it, the concept does have potential.