Il Ceppo Imperatori Era (c. 1977-1996) Partially Rusticated Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Founded by the architect Giorgio Imperatori in Pesaro, Italy, Il Ceppo is a workshop that produces high-end, handmade pipes, and a central figure in what has been called the “Pesaro school” of pipe design. This “school” was inaugurated in the 1970s with the emergence of workshops such as Imperatori’s Il Ceppo and Giacarlo Guidi’s Mastro de Paja, with each of its “members” being based in, or having some connection to, the town of Pesaro on Italy’s Adriatic coast. The Pesaro school is not simply a matter of shared location, however; there are common stylistic threads between member workshops and, quite often, individuals who have been part of more than one such workshop at different points in time.

Much like a few other Il Ceppo pipes listed recently, this one is very much in the spirit of the early “Pesaro” tradition—i.e., handcrafted renditions of the classic shapes of 20th century pipe making. In the case of this one, one might consider it an example of a classic Anglo-French “large billiard,” right down to the slight forward cant of early factory briars. One very notable departure, of course, is that this one is dressed in a far more modern Italian pebble-dash finish, lending it a good amount of visual distinction to pair with its ready-to-hand technical precision.

Something that sets this pipe apart from most of the other Il Ceppo pipes we’ve had in recently, however, is its age. Based on its bowed “il ceppo” nomenclature and four-digit serial number, the pipe will have been made during what is commonly known as the “Imperatori era”—i.e., the period between from 1977 and 1996, when Georgio Imperatori himself ran the Il Ceppo workshop, prior to his retirement. While there have been very few Il Ceppo pipes, old and new—that I haven’t liked, I do know that collectors can be quite partial to Imperatori’s output.

The condition is very good. A couple of spots of darkening on the rim.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.72″ / 43.68mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g