Don Carlos One Note Rusticated Bulldog 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.

Much like the pipe making workshops of post-war Denmark, the workshops of Italy are fascinating because of the ways their central—often founding—figures have splintered off over the decades, creating new workshops or solo projects that allowed them to explore novel designs that could not have otherwise been explored. Bruto Sordini is a perfect example of this phenomenon, having created a make—Don Carlos—whose pipes are unlike anything either Mastro de Paja or indeed Ser Jacopo have ever made. This pocket magnum of an egg actually reminds me of the aforementioned Danes, with certain affinities with the bulldog shapes of Sixten Ivarsson or Bo Nordh, while also being something simply Sordini’s and no-one else’s. What will the next Don Carlos that comes through here look like? Only time can tell.

The condition is very good. Some darkening and general wear to the rim, and slight finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 2.19″ / 55.62mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 74g