Baldo Baldi Smooth Apple Tobacco Pipe

Baldo Baldi took up pipe smoking while still a student — as he couldn't afford to buy pipes that he wanted, he made his own instead. His background in architecture and incredible patience that led him to age his briar at least 20 years before using in his workshop helped make him an excellent artisan. Baldi passed away in 2021, but this Apple surely carries on his legacy as a maker of fine pipes.

The grain Baldi managed to coax out of the block that went into this Apple is quite beautiful, most notably the tight, straight flame grain that runs up the walls of the bowl and the sides of the shank. It's a piece of substantial proportion, weighing over one-sixth of a pound. The bowl is only lightly tapered for an Apple, nearly Billiard-like, though the trademark roundness of the fore wall is still there. Baldi finished the stummel smoothly with an auburn-hued stain and backed up the muscular, tapered shank with a simple tapered stem of black acrylic.