Ser Jacopo Pre-1994 Delecta Smooth Bent Billiard w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Ser Jacopo is one of the most famous contemporary example 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.

The lingua franca of the Renaissance was Latin and, as a workshop profoundly influenced by that period in European history, it is also the language adopted by Ser Jacopo when it comes to nomenclature. The Delecta, taken from a Latin term roughly equating to “delight,” is one of the names used by Ser Jacopo to designate a specific type of mount on the workshop’s pipes, often in the form of a rather ornate, sterling silver faux spigot. The name is apt, as it is indeed a very delightful addition, lending a touch of opulence to otherwise quite classical briars like this one.

Date-wise, this looks to be a pipe made between the 1980s and 1994, back when Giancarlo Guidi was at the helm of the Ser Jacopo workshop. The clearest sign of this is the Ser Jacopo logo inlaid into the mouthpiece, which is a dot of genuine Italian sea coral (Guidi is said to have liked it because, being a naturally occurring material, no two dots would ever be perfectly alike). As I’ve detailed before in other listings, Ser Jacopo went through a number of stem logos before settling on the silver “J” used today, from gold-mounted gemstones to red plexiglass (the latter now being used only on the workshop’s La Fuma and Modica series). While sea coral of the variety seen here is beautiful and has been commonly used outside of pipe making for jewelry and the like, it’s also subject to strong environmental protections, and has been across the EU since 1994, and in parts of Italy since 1989. Thus, this Ser Jacopo will be from the early 1990s at the latest.

The condition is good. Some inner rim darkening and some small scratches on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.64″ / 41.65mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g