Ser Jacopo (c.1980s-1994) S1 (Maxima) Sandblasted Dublin (Estate)

Ser Jacopo is one of the most famous contemporary examples of high-grade, workshop-made Italian pipes. It also belongs to a very special tradition in Italian pipe making, having been established by Giancarlo Guidi and Bruno Sordini after the two had left another great Italian workshop, Mastro de Paja. Together, Guidi and Sordini created a brand of pipes that reflected their Renaissance sensibilities – even the figurehead of Ser Jacopo happens to be taken from a painting of a nobleman from centuries past—one that would soon become esteemed for creating unique and beautiful tobacco pipes that smoked just as perfectly as they looked.

Since the workshop’s early years, Ser Jacopo has used the “Maxima” designation for oversized pipes—i.e., pipes that are significantly larger than the average Ser Jacopo. While in more recent times, the use of the “Maxima” designation has been expanded, leading some, gargantuan Ser Jacopo pipes to be stamped with up to eight “Maxima”s respective to their size, even a single “Maxima” from the workshop is quite a big pipe.

This particular Ser Jacopo is a strikingly bulbous take on the traditional bent Dublin, for example, with a towering, palm filling bowl dressed in a beautifully consistent ring grain sandblast. Based on the sea coral stem inlay, the pipe looks to have been made around between the 1980s and the mid-1990s, back before the workshop was forced to abandon that practice in the wake of new EU environmental regulations.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening, minor finish fading, and a couple of slight tooth marks.

Details:

Length: 5.99″ / 152.1mm

Chamber Width: 0.87″ / 22.09mm

Chamber Depth: 2.05″ / 52.07mm

Bowl Height: 2.37″ / 60.19mm

Weight: 2.9oz / 82g