Italian Estates: Ser Jacopo Delecta Smooth Rhodesian with Silver (Maxima) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Founded in 1982 by Giancarlo Guidi, Ser Jacopo has built a reputation on crafting high-quality briars that are renowned for their robust proportions and playful shaping cues. The Italian atelier's style has since defined the Pesaro style of pipe making, each of their pipes imbued with a sense of character and reflecting the whimsical creativity that went into crafting them. Though Guidi passed away in 2012, his legacy lives on not only in the pipes he crafted, or the company he founded, but in the language of design that he helped to pioneer. The Italian workshop's Delecta series is defined by its stylized shank end and stem base that often incorporates a combination of silver, acrylic, and briar. A swift, crisply defined flare out to the face typifies the shank end, while the stem's tenon or base is often extended to provide a separation between the stummel and stem and showcase more of its accenting material. A robust, "Maxima" proportioned Rhodesian benefits from this unique shank end combination, its silhouette possessed of a lovely sinuousness. A rather wide transition gives way to a thick, lifting shank before meeting the silver Delecta mount and a stem of tapering, jet-black acrylic, its downturned bit lending the pipe a comfortable smoking posture. Up front, the bowl stands atop a rounded heel and boasts a mid-set waistline, its walls flaring out to a pair of beadlines before tapering to the rim: the look of the bowl splitting the difference between its namesake and the Egg, with ample roundness throughout. Dressed in a dark, rich stain, the stummel showcases handsome grain, with a dark pattern of birdseye presented through the fore.