Mercurio Bent Dublin (2025) 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. This bent Dublin is a fluidly curved take on the classic shape that presents an impressively muscular silhouette, complete with ample thickness through its stummel. The transition is wide, with room to drape a digit, and it pairs the bowl to a subtly tapering, ovoid shank that lifts to meet a saddle stem. Said stem is a demurely curved stretch of multicolored, swirling acrylic whose tones balance some of the visual weight of the bowl. This bowl stands on a sweeping heel and grows thick, flaring walls that expand out to an asymmetrical rim crowned with craggy plateau. Dressed in the warm stain of the Mercurio finish, this piece showcases handsome grain throughout, with streaks of flame flickering up the bowl.