Rinaldo Lithos YYY Partially Rusticated Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

As with so many of today’s premier Italian workshop makes, the story of Rinaldo begins at Mastro de Paja. The latter was a workshop founded by Giancarlo Guidi (later of Ser Jacopo) and Giannino Spadoni (later of Fiamma di Re), which the brothers Elio and Guido Rinaldo worked for as teenagers in the 1970s. At the end of the 1980s, the two departed Mastro de Paja to found their own make under their surname. Thus, Rinaldo was born.

Being a high-grade, Italian workshop make, Rinaldo’s portfolio includes pipes that wear the veritable Italian institution that is the pebble-dash, rusticated finish. That finish is the Lithos, seen here in its darker iteration, which employs a red and black contrast staining to accentuate the stony texturing of the briar. This 3 “Y” grade example is especially distinctive, however, in its basic form, as it is a classical Liverpool—a shape not especially common in Italian artisan briars. All of these elements come together in a design that works rather well, bridging the worlds of post-war Italian handicraft and traditional Anglo-French briars.

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.68″ / 42.67mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g