Davide Iafisco: Sandblasted Acorn with Ivorite Tobacco Pipe

A talented young carver who has certainly made an impression on collectors and fellow pipe makers, not to mention those who appreciate his pieces for their excellent smoking properties, Davide Iafisco has long worked with wood as an artistic medium. A former furniture designer, he is now dedicated to the craft of making superb pipes, citing Teddy Knudsen and Claudio Cavicchi as influences, among others, and having attended pipe-making seminars hosted by Jeff Gracik and Adam Davidson.

This Acorn from the Italian carver shows classic Danish shaping cues, as do many of Davide's pieces. It's a compact pipe, less than five inches in length, with the muscular, bulbous bowl displaying a gentle roundness, along with a spirited forward cant and lifting heel. Per the traditional form, the artisan has kept the waist high, near the softly curvaceous rim, but has opted here to forgo the heel spur. Cheeking at the transition lends further charm, while an undercurve sweeps through the upward curling, flaring shank.

Topped by a hand-cut cumberland stem and accented with a band of white Ivorite, the stummel is wearing a dark, low-profile sandblast that coaxes out the briar's natural grain, with the inner rim smoothly polished and stained a lighter color for contrast.