Rowlette Unigena Rusticated Bent Billiard (B) (Maxima Maxima) Tobacco Pipe

Ser Jacopo's story began in 1982 when Giancarlo Guidi and Bruto Sordini left Mastro de Paja to start their own firm. In the spirit of the Pesaro school of pipe making that it helped found, the company takes traditional English and French shapes and recreates them in fanciful ways, taking an ornate, independent approach to the craft. Sordini left the company in the late 1980s to strike out on his own, but Guidi continued turning pipes at Ser Jacopo until he passed away in 2012 at the age of 64. Though without its founder, the company lives on, carrying on the traditions of the Pesaro school to this day.

This Billiard is stamped "Maxima" twice to denote its especially large size. At just over one quarter of a pound in weight and over seven inches in length, it's remarkable for its size alone, but Ser Jacopo's artisans worked hard with the rustication of this piece to make it unique and playful, as well. The top of the bowl resembles the Italian pipe making motif of melting candle wax, while the lower half has a pair of ridgelines beneath the "candle" and deep, craggy rustication on the heel and underside of the shank. It's no doubt the product of painstaking work on Ser Jacopo's part, and it's backed up by a muscular, upturned shank and bent saddle stem of black acrylic.