Il Duca: Sandblasted Cherrywood with Boxwood (B) Tobacco Pipe

Max Rimensi, the carver behind Il Duca pipes, is a versatile artisan that takes inspiration from various schools of design. His portfolio features modern renditions of shape-chart standards, highly organic designs, and rather eccentric Freehand pieces, all of which are united by precise engineering and stylish finishes. Rimensi frequently produces the Cherrywood, and he imbues the shape with an organic character that's expressed with flowing lines and subtle contours. This particular rendition trades the form's stoic, upright posture for a more dynamic stance, with the tall, slender bowl leaning forward atop its flat, slightly angled heel.

The bowl tapers from its heel to its rim, gradually diminishing as it stretches and curls forward, while the shank extends from just above the bowl's base and flares high toward a cumberland saddle stem. The disparate trajectories of the bowl and shank form a distinctive "V" shape above the transition, leaving a nice spot to drape a digit and creating a negative space within the composition that allows the eye to appreciate the dynamism on either end of the stummel. A crisp, dark sandblast commends the briar and draws out radiating growth rings across the flanks of the bowl. A slender band of boxwood accents the shank end and nicely bridges the inky tones of the stummel with the ruby-hues of the mouthpiece.