Triade Bent Apple (YYY) (Titania) Tobacco Pipe

Sicilian brothers Elio and Guido Rinaldo moved to Pesaro and started working with Mastro de Paja in the mid-1970s, founding their own titular brand in 1987. They produce about 1,500 pipes a year using briar from Liguria in northwestern Italy, and grade them from one to four Y's, or the highest grade, Fiamatta, denoting excellent flame grain.

Rinaldo deemed this bent Apple worthy of three Y's, and it's easy to see why. Tendrils of flame grain stretch most of the way up the bowl before birdseye tops it near the rim, and the combination of smooth finish and warm red stain give the stummel a remarkably handsome appearance that will draw the eye again and again. The bowl's shaping is intriguing, as well, with the fore quite well-rounded but the aft nearly straight, barely arcing at all on its way from top of the shank to edge of the chamber. A stem of black acrylic finishes the piece, tapering and bending back from a single expansion ring just above the junction. At 5.7 inches in length and just under one-fifth of a pound in weight, this is a substantial piece that is sure to satisfy any smoker seeking a large, round Apple.