Moretti Collection Smooth Bent Cherrywood (Grade Four) (2010) Tobacco Pipe

Sold in store 3/24. Carabiniere-turned-pipemaker Marco Moretti is one of those artisans who prefers largely to sell his pipes to smokers and collectors, rather than through dealers, so I suppose it's no surprise that this, the first Moretti I've seen, is an estate pipe. He's also known for believing that sandpits should never be covered or obscured, as beautiful briar, like a beautiful, should be appreciated flaws and all. (Of course, as one might be inclined to do with, say, a girl so classless as to complain that the diamond on her engagement ring wasn't large enough, any briar with too many flaws simply gets tossed out, rather than rusticated or sandblasted.) This unusually take on the cherrywood, with its lovely birdseye and flame-grain covered flanks, does show a freckling of the dark spots which mark what were once the very bottoms of tiny pits, yet I would agree with Marco: Rather than flaws, they come off all the more as beauty marks.

- Eric N. Squires