Sandblasted Fish with Resin (Rudegar) Tobacco Pipe

Formerly known as the American Pipe Making Exposition, our annual Global Pipe Making Exposition features contributions from some of the world's foremost artisans, all united around a central theme. One of the most exciting events of the year for carvers, smokers, and enthusiasts of briar alike, the Global Exposition acts not only as a showcase for the immense talent of these artisans but as a focus for the boundless creativity that these masters of the art possess. For 2026, the theme of our Expo is "The Art of the Sandblast," celebrating the artistry and craftsmanship behind one of the most meticulous finishing techniques in pipe making. Through the sandblast, these artisans transform the natural grain of briar into textured works of art, highlighting the unique character of each block and demonstrating the artistry of the technique.

Giacomo Penzo studied product design in school, no doubt a very useful prerequisite to his current role as a pipe specialist for Peterson. When crafting his G. Penzo pipes, Giacomo prizes both functionality and physical beauty, hoping to make a pipe that will smoke well in addition to looking good on the shelf or in the hand. In addition to conventional Anglo-French shapes, Giacomo enjoys making pipes in the ways of the Danish school, as well. His contribution to this year's Expo is a piece from his high-grade "Rudegar" line, signifying his very best work. Giacomo titled it a Fish and went to great lengths to make the piece resemble a real-life one, giving it a forked tail at the fore of the bowl and slight fins on the flanks.

The sandblast that Giacomo gave his Fish is remarkable in its ability to both give the briar a tangible, visible texture and allow the flame grain and birdseye underneath to be easily observed and appreciated, and a stain of minimal coloring only assists the smoker in observing that grain. Without the forked tail, the bowl would most closely resemble a forward-canted Egg, plump and round as it is. The accent behind the bowl also serves as a mount and has the appearance of Fordite, but is in fact made of swirling blue, orange, yellow, and white resin. It provides a welcome contribution of color to the piece and serves as a perfect transition to the stem. The stem is a salmon-colored length of vulcanite that tapers and bends quite lightly from a pair of slight expansion rings, another brilliant flash of color but one that is more in line with the briar at the front. Giacomo's piece simultaneously captures a sense of whimsy and a sense of serious craftsmanship on the artisan's part, resulting in a piece that is at once sculptural and organic.