Ser Jacopo: Smooth Bent Bulldog (L) 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 bent Bulldog is a deeply curved piece from the Italian workshop, with a tightly-knit transition pairing its bowl to a sinuous combination of shank and stem. The shank lifts into a square shape that continues through the stem's base, before the slender saddle bit slenderizes the aft side and makes a demure downturn for more comfortable smoking. Up front, a sweeping heel supports the robust bowl, one which flares out to a high-set waist marked with twin beadlines, immediately followed by a swift taper to the rim. Comfortable in hand, this pipe is both firmly lined and sinuously bent, its stummel showcasing some handsome grain throughout, all beneath deep, inky stain and slightly glossy smooth finish.