Ser Jacopo: Rusticated Cherrywood (R1) (D) (Maxima Maxima Maxima Maxima) Tobacco Pipe

Founded in 1982 by Giancarlo Guidi, Ser Jacopo has built a reputation on crafting high-quality briars that are renowned for their robust proportions and playful shaping cues. The Italian atelier's style has since defined the Pesaro style of pipe making, each of their pipes imbued with a sense of character and reflecting the whimsical creativity that went into crafting them. Though Guidi passed away in 2012, his legacy lives on not only in the pipes he crafted, or the company he founded, but in the language of design that he helped to pioneer. This Cherrywood is part of the workshop's Maxima series, the line denoting pipes that are larger than normal from the Pesaro carvers, where each stamp represents a subsequent increase in size. This particular piece is stamped four times with the designation, and its presence is undeniable, both in hand and on a desk, as the strikingly large bowl stands atop a flattened, sure-sitting heel. This heel supports the entire pipe easily, allowing it to show off the sinuous silhouette of its shank and stem well, the pair married to the bowl at a mid-set transition. This shank and stem arc out and taper to the button, creating a rather sleek look that pushes most of the visual weight onto the bowl's monolithic presence at the fore. Standing over three and a half inches tall, the bowl is extremely thick, and its robust walls hold a capacious chamber perfect for extended smoking sessions. Weighing over half a pound, this Cherrywood is sure to make a great desk pipe, the stummel dressed in a craggy rustication contrasted nicely by smooth briar at the heel and rim.