Smooth Light Freehand 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.

This Freehand of Simone's is fronted by a most unique bowl, bulging outward around the heel and topped by what can only be described as an upturned rim. Simone still managed to keep good track of the grain as he worked on the bowl, however, as tight, straight tendrils of flame grain decorate the bowl's rounded underside. The shank is dramatically upturned into a bent, tapered stem of black acrylic, lengthy enough to stretch this piece past six inches in length. The stummel is stained a lovely light walnut hue and finished smoothly with plenty of gloss, making this a beautiful pipe beyond its shaping, which in itself makes this an extraordinary work of briar.