Rook Bent Apple (2025) Tobacco Pipe

In 1981, Tonino Jacono, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law banded together to form the Jacono brand with the intent of making high quality pipes at the best possible price. This bent Apple from the Italian marque, based on a chess-themed grading system, has been designated as a "Rook." Plump of waist, the bowl's rotundity is echoed in a hearty, upturned shank — whose thickness is in turn matched by the short acrylic stem tapering swiftly into a demurely bent bit. From the fore of a slightly lifted heel, a graceful arc underscores the bottom of the stummel, following the path of slow-eddying clusters of birdseye toward the shank end. Flame grain, made visible by a hazelnut stain, emerges from the birdseye-adorned heel to wrap around the smooth surface of the bowl as it makes its way to the rim.