Claudio Cavicchi: Smooth Acorn with Ivorite (CCCC) Tobacco Pipe

With its hearty, bowl-forward sense of proportion, this Acorn from Claudio Cavicchi is an excellent showcase of Italian neoclassical shaping cues. The bowl's squat, plump figure fills the hand effortlessly, formed by thick walls flaring broadly from the rounded heel toward the inflated rim. Out back, a slender shank lifts out of the transition from the bowl and flares subtly toward a pale band of Ivorite, then pairing to a gently bent saddle stem for a comfortable smoking posture. Cavicchi's keen eye for grain orientation is displayed excellently here, with lively licks of flame grain rising up the bowl and handsome birdseye circling the rim, all of which is presented beneath a light, honey-blonde stain.