Smooth Brown Volcano with Cumberland Stem and Silver (Two Jellyfish) (Calypso) 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 Volcano from Simone's workshop takes on a fascinating shape, nearly like a bulbous gourd lopped off at the top, indicating Simone's choice to cant the chamber forward from the wider bottom of the bowl. The grain here is quite handsome: tight tendrils of leaning flame grain stained a dark walnut as they reach up to a wide silver cap accenting the junction between the back of the bowl and the bent, tapered cumberland stem. Simone made this a piece of generous proportions at just over one-sixth of a pound and more than five inches in length, paired with a generous heel of the bowl that fills the hand easily.