Ser Jacopo L1 Smooth Stack Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.

As I mentioned in another recent Ser Jacopo listing, today the make’s stem logo is normally a silver ‘J,’ except for the La Fuma pipes – their more affordable offerings – which have a red dot instead. And, as with the other Ser Jacopo, this one has a coral – not red – dot inside of a silver ring. Why? This was the stem logo used by Giancarlo Guidi and Bruno Sordini when they first started making Ser Jacopo pipes, in the years between 1983 and 1997. Aside from being great pipes, these particular Ser Jacopos are highly valued by collectors – and in fact, this particular pipe came to us through our trade-in program by a collector of high-grade Italian pipes. This one is a stack saddle billiard, with straight grain so tightly woven together it could almost be described as ‘angel hair,’ as artisans often do. Despite being a stack, it’s quite light, at 40 grams, so veteran smokers may find it clenches comfortably enough.

The condition is excellent. There’s some minor, inner rim darkening, but that’s it.

 

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.86″ / 47.24mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g