Ser Jacopo: Niger Smooth Hawkbill (L) (A) (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 Hawkbill is an impressive piece, as it's part of the workshop's Maxima series, being stamped a single time with the designation to mark it as a larger piece than normal from the Pesaro carvers. Playful is an excellent word for this particular profile, as it's remarkably chubby, its bowl showcasing a thick, Ball-like build before being paired to an equally thick shank. Said shank pushes out of a wide transition and tapers immediately to meet a far slimmer, short stem that keeps this pipe near Nosewarmer length and places further emphasis on the stummel. An impressive and imposing pipe in hand, this piece is dressed in the workshop's Niger finish, covering the briar in a smooth, jet-black stain that reveals smoky grain.