Sabbiato Rhodesian 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 starring feature of this Sabbiato Rhodesian is in the title — "sabbiato" means, simply, "sandblasted," after all. The finish was completed with such great care for the grain underneath: swaying tendrils of flame grain and heavy dots of birdseye that catch the human eye immediately, and feel just as good to the touch with their lightly raised ridges and domes. The shank is muscular, appropriately so for the bowl, which is tall above the single bead line and follows a lengthy arc below to the heel. A richly colored acrylic stem, mostly pale orange with swirls of cream, finishes the piece with a nice flourish.