Ser Jacopo: Sandblasted Bent Apple (S2) (A) (Maxima) Tobacco Pipe

This hearty bent Apple from Ser Jacopo bears a "Maxima" stamp, but I don't need to read the markings to know it is an amply proportioned pipe. The bowl is palm filling and comforting in hand, and the shank is another thing altogether, with a quite muscular, diamond-shaped profile reminding very much of a powerful Bulldog shape. It's dressed in a rippling sandblast, the dark stain and stimulating surface giving rise to handsome growth rings and blasted birdseye, while the robust stem tapers in diamond formation toward a slight downturn right at the lip button.