Don Carlos 2 Note Rusticated Brandy Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Don Carlos belongs to a historic lineage within Italian pipe making. The workshop was founded by Bruto Sordini (along with his wife Rosaria), who had previously made pipes for Mastro de Paja, where he also met Giancarlo Guidi. In 1981, Sordini and Guidi left Mastro de Paja to found their own workshop, Ser Jacopo. After years of making pipes at Ser Jacopo, Sordini once again departed to found a new venture, as he had ideas for shapes and styles that were quite different to Ser Jacopo’s established design philosophy. Sordini therefore created Don Carlos as a means of expressing this vision, resulting in pipes that are both quintessentially Italian, and bearing aesthetic that is wholly their own.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but one of the great joys of having a Don Carlos pipe land on my desk is that I never really know what it will look like until I remove it from the sock or box that it comes to me in.  This one is a genuine feast for the eyes, and a surprising design even for the Sordinis. After all, it is ostensibly a bulbous, Danish brandy shape, not entirely unlike those of Former, S. Bang, or Kurt Balleby. Not content to simply ape the Danes, however, it is also dressed in a far more Italian rustication, resulting in an immensely enjoyable hybrid of schools and styles.

The condition is great. Very minor inner rim darkening.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.90 / 22.86mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g