Davide Iafisco: Sandblasted Dublin with Horn Tobacco Pipe

Davide Iafisco is an artisan whose shaping style can range from the modern, with Danish and Japanese inspired pieces, to the classic, with pipes that display a distinct Anglo-French leaning, such as this straight Dublin. This is no real surprise, as his roots in the pipe making world were established with a respect for the classic tradition of English craftsmanship. The first thing that strikes me about this pipe is just how compact it is, measuring just a hair over five inches long, putting into context how svelte the shank and stem are, and how comparatively large the bowl is. Said bowl is not quite expansive enough for me to immediately think of the Italian neoclassical school, however, especially considering its form, which is possessed of a very subtle forward cant and a slow, gradual flare to the inflated rim. The transition here is slightly cheeked and wide open, giving the thumb plenty of room to rest, and leads directly into the arrow-straight shank and stem, with the stem itself featuring a band of horn at its base, handsomely contrasting its cumberland hues. The majority of the stummel here is dressed in a crisp black sandblast, revealing stacks of rippling growth rings crawling up the bowl from the firm heel, with the rim finished in a smooth ruby stain that matches quite well with the stem.