Ser Jacopo: Sandblasted Bent Apple (S2) (E) (Maxima, Maxima, 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. This bent Apple is part of the workshop's Maxima series, being stamped an impressive six times with the designation, designating it as a much larger piece than normal from the Pesaro carvers. A colossal, bulbous bowl is the visual center of this pipe, one possessed of more than three inches in both breadth and height, its massively thick walls insulating a cavernous chamber. The transition is wide, leaving plenty of room to drape a digit, and it gives way to a stout, lifting shank that tapers as it reaches toward a long, sleek saddle stem of jet-black acrylic that curves demurely at its bit. The aforementioned bowl is massively hearty, offering an imposing feel in hand and bringing the weight of this pipe to more than half a pound. At nearly nine inches long, there's plenty of substance to appreciate here, the briar having been dressed in a crisp, earthy sandblast.