Ardor: Urano Blowfish Tobacco Pipe

Though the Ardor pipes workshop was founded in 1974 by father-son team Angelo and Dorelio Rovera, the pipe making history of the family stretches back to 1911, with the founding of Sociedade Rovera in Varese, Italy. It was at here that Angelo began to carve pipes alongside his father and uncles, starting at the age of 13 in 1958, Ardor's debut into the pipe world marked by a high-standard of craftsmanship that's remained consistent for nearly five decades. Though Angelo passed away in 1999, Ardor is now run by Dorelio, alongside both Damiano and Dimitri, the next generation of Roveras. Ardor's pipes are often typified by their strikingly neoclassical proportions, with each piece offering greatly enhanced substance about the bowl and a reassuring presence in hand. The Blowfish is a shape which is seldom seen from the Roveras, with the profile being seen primarily from Danish and Japanese artisans. Additionally, this piece, being from an Italian workshop, is uniquely stylized, with the pair of panels on the flanks iconic to the shape rendered symmetrically here, as opposed to their usually asymmetrical form. The result is a bowl that is quite strikingly round, with the fore and aft, top and bottom of the entire stummel possessed of a subtle hollowing that accentuates the ridges here. Dressed in a craggy rustication courtesy of the Urano finish, this pipe is left unstained and is primed for patination as it's smoked.