Ser Jacopo: Insanus Rusticated Bent Apple with Silver (R1) (D) (1) Tobacco Pipe

Ser Jacopo was founded in 1982 by legendary pipe maker Giancarlo Guidi. The workshop cultivated their signature Pesaro style, which delights in dramatic flourishes and whimsical stylings, even more so than the already playful Italian tradition. Sadly, Guidi passed away in 2012, but Ser Jacopo carries on his legacy. True to its translation, Ser Jacopo's Insanus, unsurprisingly meaning "insane" in Latin, line of pipes present shapes that are sure to make one look twice out of sheer bewilderment, as can be plainly seen from this bent Apple. Imagine taking a well-made Italian Apple with a long shank and abbreviated stem and snapping it in half right in the middle of that shank, then, upon realizing what you've done, you attempt to put the parts back together with baling wire. That is the situation this pipe evokes, though without the traumatizing pipe breakage. The commitment to this illusion is so strong that both halves of the shank are even drilled with a faux draft hole, as is the bottom, while the true one is rather ingeniously drilled at an upwards angle, thankfully, behind the stem where it should be. The stummel is dressed in a mahogany-hued rustication, the dark stain contrasted by a silver ring about the shank end and silver "baling wire" around the split shank.