Jazz Bent Apple 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.

The pairing of dark stain and smooth finish gives this bent Apple a sleek, elegant appearance that draws the eye immediately to the stummel, but the wonderfully round fore of the bowl offers plenty of visual intrigue, giving the bowl a shape unlike the typical Apple. The round shank is muscular as it sweeps upward into a bent stem of tapered black acrylic that matches well with the stummel to complete the piece's very dark, very attractive profile.