Ser Jacopo Pulchra Albus et Niger, Sandblasted Bent Apple Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

I’ve mentioned that Ser Jacopo pipes have a strong connection to the Renaissance. Now, you don’t need to be a European history buff to appreciate how these pipes look, or smoke, but understanding the names the Ser Jacopo workshop gives to its pipes is another story. You might wonder, for example, what Pulchra or Albus et Niger mean, or whether these are Italian words for certain things. In fact, these are not Italian words at all, but words from the lingua franca of the Renaissance: Latin. Albus et Niger is Latin for ‘white and black,’ denoting the color scheme of such pipes; Pulchra is a little less direct, meaning something like ‘beautiful’ in English. Ser Jacopo uses the Pulchra denotation for a specific style of silver mount, as can be seen on this pipe. Linguistic digressions aside, and as I said, you don’t need to know any of this to see how striking the black and white color scheme of this pipe is, or how elegantly ornate its silverwork is, or indeed how nice the ring grain sandblast on its bowl is. But it’s little homages, like Ser Jacopo’s latinism, that sometimes lend an extra, personal touch to a handmade pipe.

This Pulchra Albus et Niger is non tritus – or, something like that. In other words, it’s completely unsmoked. It came to us through our trade-in program, along with its original box and sleeve, which will be included with the pipe.

Details:

Length: 5.4″ / 137.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.62″ / 41.14mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 68g