Smooth Light Cherrywood (Three Jellyfish) Tobacco Pipe

Ser Jacopo alum Simone Gaudenzi is well-trained in the Pesaro school of pipe making, which emphasizes clean lines and panache in design. Today, Gaudenzi crafts Valbruna pipes in the small town of Gabicce Mare on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, which plays an important role in the company's nomenclature: per Adriatic legend, Valbruna is a lost, sunken city like Atlantis. Gaudenzi ages the briar for his pipes, which are produced in limited quantities. True to his maritime roots, he uses Jellyfish to identify levels of quality.

Gaudenzi awarded this Cherrywood three Jellyfish, no doubt a nod to the heavenly combination of the almost sunrise-like orientation of the flame and cross grain that juts from a small collection of birdseye to cover much of the front of the bowl, the well-drawn lines that give this piece such a pronounced heel and straight walls, and the brilliant light brown stain. All combine to make this an eminently attractive piece, capped by the teardrop-shaped stem of black acrylic that is rounded just above the tenon before tapering to the bit. Gaudenzi's work here has yielded a lovely interpretation of the classic Cherrywood shape that will no doubt satisfy fans of his work or his countrymen's at large.