Ser Jacopo 2000 Millennium Pipe Sandblasted Calabash Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Ser Jacopo is one of the most famous contemporary examples of high-grade, workshop-made Italian pipes. It also belongs to a very special tradition in Italian pipe-making, having been established by Giancarlo Guidi and Bruno Sordini after the two had left another great Italian workshop, Mastro de Paja. Together, Guidi and Sordini created a brand of pipes that reflected their Renaissance sensibilities – even the figurehead of Ser Jacopo happens to be taken from a painting of a nobleman from centuries past – one that would soon become esteemed for creating unique and beautiful tobacco pipes that smoked just as well as they looked.

The year 2000 was marked by a number of esteemed pipe makers with a special, limited edition pipe. Ser Jacopo was one of these pipe makers, treating customers to not one, but two pipes to celebrate the turn of the new century. There was the 2000 Domina, Ser Jacopo’s “pipe of the year” equivalent that began in 1996, but there was also the The Millennium Pipe, seen here. The 2000 Domina was certainly a beautiful pipe, taking the form of a bent egg sitter with a sterling silver mount, but the Millennium incorporated something that has become closely associated with Ser Jacopo pipes and their more extravagant designs: curved drilling. Using specialized tools and techniques, Ser Jacopo’s Millennium pipe was about as faithful as one can get to the classical gourd calabash in terms of shaping, as an ordinary drilling technique is simply not capable of boring a draft hole at such an angle (the gourd calabash, being hollow and capped with a removable bowl, does not have this issue). Thus, as with the Domina series, The Millennium Pipe was a truly special piece, something only furthered by their shared, carefully engraved silverware. I mentioned in a previous listing that it is difficult to find a comparable pipe maker that truly throws out all the stops when it comes to celebratory, limited edition releases. The closest that comes to mind would be Dunhill, who, released both the Longitude and the Millennium Hallmark series back-to-back to celebrate the arrival of the new century. The difference, on the other hand, is that even the Dunhill Longitude was limited to 2000 pipes produced in total, whereas Ser Jacopo made only 333 of their Millennium Pipe.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating (slightly overapplied at the back rim, but nothing at all to worry about). The pipe comes with its original leather presentation case, sleeve, and illustrative pamphlet.
This pipe is chambered to allow for the use of 9mm filters if preferred.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 2.00″ / 50.80mm

Weight: 2.5oz / 72g