Don Carlos 2 Note Partially Rusticated Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.

As with their Pesaro school, and indeed across high-grade Italian pipes more generally, the Sordinis have their own interpretation of the great national institution that is the stony, pebble-dash rusticated finish. With Don Carlos pipes, I’ve always found the approach to be a little sharper than others in the Italian scene, however, marrying the granularity of, for example, the Castello Sea Rock with the ruggedness of the early Caminetto business.

This particular Don Carlos features a partial application of the Sordinis’ rustication to a towering, deep-chambered Dublin rendition, one whose rim has been left smooth so as to make good use of its beautiful bird’s-eye patterning.

The condition is very good. Very slight rim darkening and minor handling marks.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 2.25″ / 57.15mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 74g