Il Duca: Smooth Bent Apple with Boxwood (D) Tobacco Pipe

Some pipe makers present a particularly distinctive style when crafting their pieces. Max Rimensi is not one of those. The Italian artisan's shaping aesthetic is often hard to pin down, as he's known for versatile style. His inherent creativity allows him to move easily from one design school to another, incorporating components from them and combining them in his own interpretive way. Il Duca's pieces are pointedly functional and superbly engineered, with handsome finishes and precise shaping, as in this bent Apple.

This piece displays Danish shaping cues, which are often seen in his offerings. Compact and muscular, it features a slightly protruding, supple bowl, its curves plump and rim gently rounded. This pipe promotes a forward-urging sense of momentum, thanks in part to a lifting heel and voluptuous design. The thick, triangular shank flares as it nears the stem, its face accented by pale boxwood. A slender vulcanite stem is matched in color here by an underside of dark, craggy plateau that begins beneath the transition and terminates at the aforementioned shank end, another cue embraced by Danish pipe makers. This pipe is dressed in one of Max's gorgeous, smooth contrast stains, unveiling stunningly tight tendrils of flame grain ascending from the heel. Beautiful birdseye cloisters can be seen along the heel, rim, and topside of the shank, a testament to the artisan's keen eye for shaping according to the grain.