Ser Jacopo Insanus 4 Sandblasted Upside Down Billiard w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked, 9mm

Description

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.

True to their name, Ser Jacopo’s Insanus pipes are a little bit mad. While Ser Jacopo’s typical output is characterized by a grandiose, yet measured, Renaissance aesthetic, Insanus pipes defy formal conventions when it comes to pipe design, and indeed to the practical arts more broadly. They cross the boundaries of reason, as madness does, and come back with something extraordinary.

The Insanus No. 4, seen here, is certainly unusual, though it does—oddly enough—overlap somewhat with the “Captain Warren” and “Dawes” designs from good old fashioned 20th century briars. The basic idea is that it’s a billiard turned “on its head,” so to speak. The opening of the bowl’s chamber is positioned at what would normally be the pipe’s base, meaning that, when one smokes it, it appears “upside down” (even the silver “J” logo is inlaid twice, once on either side of the mouthpiece). And yet, just like the the Captain Warren and the Dawes, it works, and is quite comfortable in the hand, too. Is it madness? I suppose that depends which way you look at it.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating. It is chambered to allow for the use of 9mm filters if desired and comes with an adapter for non-filtered use as well.

Details:

Length: 6.1″ / 154.9mm

Bowl Width: 0.82 / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 64g