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Morta pipes have become increasingly common in recent years, but what is morta, really? Essentially, it is semi-petrified oak found underground beneath large bodies of water. One of the best sources for morta is peat bogs, where the acidic and oxygen-poor environment in the soil and water contributes to the wood's petrifying process. Its use in pipe making was first popularized by Trever Talbert, who has posted extensively on both sourcing the medium and using it to craft quality tobacco pipes. Today, however, you can find morta pipes from all over the world — from Becker to Tinsky, Provenzano to Askwith, and many others. Among that vanguard of alternative-medium pipe makers, Max Rimensi of Il Duca Pipes is certainly one of the most skilled in working with morta — and that's not an easy process.
Though its smoking qualities and unique grain patterns are impressive, morta isn't the easiest medium to work with, in pipe making or in general. For starters, morta actually requires a larger cut than your typical briar block, as its petrifying process often results in more cracks, fissures, and natural flaws that have to be removed before shaping. Even then, some flaws just can't be cut out — Max, for example, discards around 70% of all of his morta blocks. After they've been cut, the morta blocks then have to cure. For Max, that process takes an additional year after cutting. The medium is also quite hard, perhaps not completely petrified, but still much harder on tools than normal wood — making shaping quite a meticulous task. Max takes special care to use properly aged morta as well. If it's too old, it could smoke wet. If it's too young, it might not have the desired resistance to flame and heat. Then you have to consider density. You can crudely assess the density of a piece by comparing it to similarly sized blocks, but Max will also cut a block of morta on its end and sandblast it to get a better idea of what he's working with. This is an important step because denser morta will yield tighter grain, and will also provide better smoking qualities as well.
These are just some of the extra steps Max has to take to craft a pipe from this unique medium. It's a time consuming and unforgiving process, yet Max continues to turn out more and more morta pipes each year. It's certainly a high risk, high reward sort of scenario, but when it all goes right, when Max finds that perfect block, of the perfect age and density... damn if the results aren't stunning. You can see those results for yourself over on Il Duca's page — where you'll find beautiful morta designs, as well as an more conservative, though likewise gorgeous briar pipes.
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