Ser Jacopo: Albatro Smooth Bent Egg with Silver (L1) 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. Most often found on briars produced in St. Claude, France, pipes that featured albatross bone shanks were quite prevalent in the early 20th and late 19th century, though pipe makers have often paid tributes to the unique style through more contemporary works as well. Such is the case with Ser Jacopo's Albatro line, though it replaces the style's iconic bone shank extension with one made from pale, finely striated acrylic: emulating the look of those vintage pipes without necessitating avian disarticulation. In this bent Egg, the expressive shank extension is capped with a demurely downturned saddle stem of black acrylic, and it pairs to an extremely short briar shank via a stylish fitment of silver. This shank and stem, despite being massively slender, nicely balance the presence of the bowl, a pert, plump, and supple bulb of briar that boasts a low-set waistline and an arcing taper to the rim. Dressed in a warm, rich, auburn-tinged stain, the stummel here showcases a wealth of handsome grain throughout, with plenty of contrast offered by its expressive accents.