Don Carlos One Note Bent Rhodesian Estate Briar Pipe

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’ve handled quite a few of Bruto Sordini’s pipes over the years, but I think this one might just take the cake, so to speak. It is a beautiful, low slung Rhodesian, with the ever-winning combination of vertical straight grain around the bowl and a sea of bird’s-eye patterns on its rim. This also happens to be one of the lighter Don Carlos pipes I’ve held, at around 40 grams. Veteran smokers should find it comfortable enough to clench, and perhaps novices will not find it too cumbersome either.

The condition is very good. There is some inner rim darkening and a small, natural imperfection in the briar on the outermost left side of the rim, but nothing that will affect the pipe’s smoking qualities.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.28″ / 32.51mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g