Ardor: Urano Tomato with Silver 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 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. It's very seldom that Ardor crafts the Tomato shape, though when the brand does, they're most often extremely deeply bent iterations of the profile. This piece is decidedly different, comparatively, with a very subtle bit of curvature present through the shank and stem. Said shank tapers as it reaches out of the wide transition, accented with a broad silver mount at the junction that's rimmed at the outer edge before meeting the stem. This stem is accented with a matching band of silver at its base, nicely contrasting its sleekly tapering length of black acrylic. Up front, the bowl stands on a rounded heel and grows thick walls that expand to a low-set waistline, where they take on an arcing taper to the rim while maintaining an impressive squatness and plump breadth. Dressed in Ardor's craggy Urano rustication and a rich, auburn-tinged stain, the stummel offers a wealth of texture in the hand, with plenty of contrast to appreciate.