Rusticato Bent Billiard Tobacco Pipe

Ser Jacopo's story began in 1982 when Giancarlo Guidi and Bruto Sordini left Mastro de Paja to start their own firm. In true Italian style, the company's pipes offer finely crafted variations on traditional British and French shapes. With their Mastro Geppetto pipes (named for the man who carved Pinocchio), Ser Jacopo provides the same curious approach, neoclassical shapes, and variant finishes of its other pipes at a more affordable price.

The shank of this bent Billiard is so steeply upturned that the silhouette is similar to that of an Oom Paul. The rusticated finish is bountiful, covering all of the stummel except the stamping and the rim of the bowl, and allows plenty of the cherry red stain to shine through in between deep, wide ridges. The heel is quite round leading up to a light backward cant near the rim, playing well into the curves of the stem and the rest of the stummel. The touch is a rugged but welcoming one, and the acrylic stem is well patterned: solid red with circling black clouds almost taking on the shape of blown smoke.