Ser Jacopo: Amber Delecta Sandblasted Apple with Silver (S2) (C) 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. The Italian workshop's Delecta series is defined by its stylized shank end and stem base, often incorporating a combination of silver, acrylic, and briar. A swift, crisply defined flare out to the face typifies the shank end, while the stem's tenon or base is often extended to provide a separation between the stummel and stem and showcase more of its accenting material. This is most certainly an Italian Neoclassical rendition of the straight Apple, the stem comprising a thick taper of crackling amber acrylic that sharply steps down to the pipe's matching Delecta mount. The shank proper is a short taper of briar that reaches out of the wide transition to meet this stylish arrangement of stem and mount, the stocky aft of this piece balancing the heartiness of the plump bowl. Said bowl stands atop a rounded heel and grows thick, hearty walls that take on a robust curvature as they expand to a mid-set waist before arcing comfortably to the rim. Dressed in a crisp sandblast and warm, auburn-tinged stain, the stummel showcases handsome grain throughout, with bands of rippling growth rings cascading down the bowl.