Ardor Spirale Fantasy Spiral Egg w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Like many Italian workshop brands, Ardor pipes are a family affair. The name itself is an acronym of Angelo Rovera and Dorelio Rovera, father and son pipe-makers who created the brand in 1972. The Rovera family’s history with pipes goes back much further, however, as Angelo’s own father, Francesco, had previously established the Sociedade Rovera pipe company with his brothers in 1911. All Ardor pipes are completely hand-made from briar that has been seasoned for at least 4-5 years, and the brand is noteworthy for its playful and innovative approaches to design. As a result, Ardor pipes are both quintessentially Italian, while also being somewhat different, having a style that is wholly their own.

High-grade carved and rusticated finishes are a veritable institution in the Italian pipe making community, but few workshops have such an extensive a portfolio of such than the Rovera family’s Ardor. The Roveras take inspiration for many of these finishes from celestial bodies, from planets to meteors, but the Spirale is rather different. As the name implies (at least, to speakers of Romance languages), the Spirale is the Roveras’ series of spiral-carved pipes, a finish which the family applies in a rather unique way. Rather than opting for a “twisted” motif in the manner of certain Danish and American pipe makers, the Spirale is, oddly enough, somewhat reminiscent of a much older design, that of the Dunhill Quaint Shape “US,” also known as the “Beehive.” Like the US, the finish of the Spirale alternates between raised, smooth polished ridges and valleys in relief (the latter being rusticated, rather than the more typically sandblasted English approach), forming concentric rings that flow down the bowl and all the way up the shank. This particular example also happens to belong to the Fantasy subseries, one characterized by extra ornamentation and dashes of color, which was introduced to Ardor pipes by Damiano Rovera, Dorelio’s son. Here that comes by way of marbled Lucite, which forms the pipe’s mount and mouthpiece, as well as a sterling silver stem inlay.

This pipe is completely unsmoked and comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.79″ / 45.46mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g