Il Ceppo Sandblasted Dublin w/ Silver 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.

I have heard “on the grapevine,” as they say, that Il Ceppo may be closing down, which would be a genuine shame as far as Italian pipes go. Not only are Il Ceppo pipes especially beautiful and well made, the workshop itself is a historic one, having been established at the very outset of the Pesaro tradition. This Il Ceppo, for example, is a lovely little Dublin rendition, with just a few tweaks here and there—like a slightly off-angle, elliptical shank, and a stepped figure at the base of the mouthpiece—that keep interesting, without going over the top and abandoning convention entirely. The sandblasting is especially nice, too, with an almost “webbed” ring grain relief that becomes increasingly craggier as it rises up the bowl.

The condition is very good. Minor rim darkening, but overall the pipe seems to have been only smoked lightly.

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ / 42.67mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g