Le Nuvole 4 Cloud Smooth Squat Pot Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Maurizio Tombari is one of the most interesting figures to emerge from the so-called “Pesaro school” of pipe making, which is a high bar to clear. Trained as a painter at Italy’s Accademia di Belle Art di Urbino, Tombari would ultimately join one of the founding pipe workshops of the Pesaro school, Mastro de Paja, working alongside its founders Giancarlo Guidi and Giannino Spadoni. After Guidi Mastro de Paja left to found Ser Jacopo with Bruto Sordini (another Mastro de Paja alum), Tombari joined him, working under Guidi until 1996. At this point, it was time for Tombari to depart again, this time with the intention of creating his own, independent pipe venture. But he would not be entirely on his own; like his former colleague Bruto Sordini, who had departed Ser Jacopo in the early 1990s to create Don Carlos pipes with his wife Rosaria, Maurizio Tombari was joined by his wife, Stefania, in his new endeavor. Together, Maurizio and Stefania Tombari created Le Nuvole, a partnership between two lifelong artists with a view to creating pipes as unique and harmonious as their meteorological namesake.

In the case of this one, the design follows a common motif within Le Nuvole pipes, that of the pot—though not the same pot as is found in the Anglo-French tradition. Many of the Tombaris’ designs take influence from the world of ceramics, with various containers, such as bean pots and amphoras, serving to guide the shaping of Le Nuvole pipes. This one blends certain lines found in the pair’s “pignattina” renditions with those of a more classical prince, or tomato, with the result being a decidedly squat figure and one with notable affinities to earthenware. Despite this, it has a palpable lightness befitting the Le Nuvole name, as well as excellent grain, for which it attained a 4 Cloud grade.

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

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 0.96″ / 24.38mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g