Smooth Acorn with Ivorite (D) Tobacco Pipe

Massimiliano "Max" Rimensi began working with wood in his uncle's shop at age 14, giving him a fascination with carpentry that preceded the purchase of his first pipe. It was in that same shop that Max made his first pipe, the result of which didn't satisfy him but the process of which enthralled him. Though located in Occhiobello, southwest of Venice near Italy's Adriatic coast, Max's fanciful shapes take inspiration from all over, crafted with briar he lets dry for years before shaping.

This Acorn of Max's is light at just under one and one-third ounces and very handsome with a wealth of flame grain about the walls of the bowl and birdseye on the inflated rim, finished smoothly to give the entire stummel a very smooth touch to the fingertips. A squat cylinder of Ivorite caps the lightly upturned shank, after which a barely bent tapered stem of vulcanite finishes the piece. Max's unique shaping and considerable rounding of the rim gives this Acorn a bowl similar to that of a Mushroom and the fine grain makes it particularly attractive in the hand, while the curvy orientation of every line of the pipe makes it a somewhat playful work.