Baldo Baldi Smooth Horn Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Baldo Baldi was one of those rare and extraordinary pipe makers who, like Bo Nordh or Tom Eltang, was so highly regarded that someone wrote an entire book about the man and his work (that book being Il sono Baldo Baldi, by the renowned architect, author, and Italian pipe authority, Diego Morlin).

Baldi was born in 1947 and died in 2021. He was trained as an artist and an architect, electing to pursue the latter for his career but, ultimately, he would end up instead becoming professional pipe maker, which he remained until his passing. Not unlike his contemporary Claudio Cavicchi, Baldi’s pipe making was born out of necessity—a necessity for more pipes, to which most of us can relate. Unlike Cavicchi, however, who began making pipes because they took too long to arrive, Baldi’s pipe making was a result of simply not having enough money for the ones he wanted—again, something very relatable. When his local tobacconists saw the pipes Baldi had made for himself, they were so enamored that they requested that he make pipes for them to sell in their stores. All of this took place while Baldi was still pursing his architectural studies, but a momentum would quickly build to the point where Baldi’s career as an architect was quickly usurped by a full-time pipe making vocation.

The horn is not a shape typically associated with Italian pipe making—being more of a staple of Scandinavian and American styles of freehand carving—but Baldo Baldi was never someone to follow the crowd, not even among his compatriots. This one has little in common with the horns of Scandinavia or the US, either, being both thoroughly modern and, curiously, quite classical, making for a very unique rendition. Fashioned almost entirely by way of manual tools, such as the hand file, the pipe has an almost figural quality to it which, combined with the curvature of the shape, gives it more of an affinity with the pipes and cheroot holders of 18th and 19th century meerschaum carving than conventional briar designs. Based on the “rings” running around it, one wonders whether antique meerschaums might have played a part in its inspiration—or, indeed, if the intention was not for a horn shape at all, but rather the shell of a creature that once roamed the seafloor.

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

Details:

Length: 6.8″ / 172.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.96″ / 49.79mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g