Ser Jacopo R1 Rusticated Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe

Description

Ser Jacopo is likely 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 well as they looked.

This Ser Jacopo came to us through our trade-in program. I love receiving pipes through the program, as it always gives me a chance to handle pipes I’ve never seen up close before, but I really love receiving pipes when they’re like this one. Even among the immensely competitive field of Italian workshop pipes, Ser Jacopo’s are such beautiful pieces. This one is a distinctly classical bent billiard, with its combination of a sharp, rusticated finish with a smooth rim and engraved silver military mount providing an enjoyable dissonance. Nietzsche used to say that the highest art combines Apollonian formal harmony and Dionysian chaotic excess. In the pipe world, I’d say that looks something like this.

The condition is near-mint. The previous owner was a veteran collector of high-grade pipes, and took extremely good care of them. The only indication I could discern that this pipe had been smoked was a very light carbonization of its chamber.

 

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.7″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g