Don Carlos 1 Note Smooth Pot Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Don Carlos belongs to a historic lineage within Italian pipe making. The workshop was founded by Bruto Sordini (along with his wife Rosaria), who had previously made pipes for Mastro de Paja, where he also met Giancarlo Guidi. In 1981, Sordini and Guidi left Mastro de Paja to found their own workshop, Ser Jacopo. After years of making pipes at Ser Jacopo, Sordini once again departed to found a new venture, as he had ideas for shapes and styles that were quite different to Ser Jacopo’s established design philosophy. Sordini therefore created Don Carlos as a means of expressing this vision, resulting in pipes that are both quintessentially Italian, and bearing aesthetic that is wholly their own.

Bruto and Rosaria Sordini’s designs range from the bombastic to the reserved, from the freeform to the careful geometry of the Anglo-French standards. But even in the cases of the latter, they maintain an aesthetic that is beautifully out of the ordinary. This one, for example, has elements to it that wouldn’t be out of place in the shape charts of 20th century England, but it also incorporates a rather distinct motif that is common to Don Carlos pipes and to the Pesaro school more generally: earthenware. It’s almost strange to say, but Pesaro school pots (Ser Jacopo, Don Carlos, Le Nuvole, L’Anatra, and so on) are often closer to their namesake than their traditional counterparts, much like the Danish brandy often is.

Though the majority of Don Carlos pipes are unique, pots like this one are something of a signature design for the Sordinis, not unlike the “pignattina” renditions of Le Nuvole. Broad chambered and beautifully grained, it’s distinct take on a classic motif, as well as simply being beautiful in its own right.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. Some slight handling marks on the bowl, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.54″ / 39.11mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g