Graziano Tendi Partially Sandblasted Long Shank Pot Handmade Briar Pipe, New

The Italian artisan scene is, today, more vibrant than it has perhaps ever been. While the 20th century was largely dominated by seminal workshops, such as Mastro de Paja and Castello, their many offshoots, such as Ser Jacopo and Caminetto, and the familial dynasties frequently bound up with them, such as the Roveras, the Ascortis, and the Musicos, the 21st century has seen an emergence of networks of solo carvers, whose talents have come to rival both the great workshops of their homeland and their solo counterparts abroad, such as in Denmark or the United States. Graziano Tendi is just such a pipe maker. Having been enamored with tobacco pipes since he was a teenager, he has, for over a decade, been crafting his own pipes under the Tendi name. Pipe Tendi has been a genuine cult hit, even at home in the notoriously competitive Italian pipe scene, so it is our great pleasure to carry them in America for the first time. While Tendi makes pipes in a variety of styles, the majority of his works are traditional shapes in the English-French mold, which makes him quite rare among his contemporaries in Italy and abroad. Instead, he is most often far closer to late 20th and early 21st century neoclassicists like Bill Taylor, of the UK’s Ashton, or even J.T. Cooke and Michael Parks in the US and Canada respectively. This particular Tendi has a slight “quaint” vibe to it—not necessarily in the sense of Dunhill and its catalog of supplementary designs, but in the sense of it being a little outside of the norms of Anglo-French shaping conventions, without departing from them entirely. Blending elements of both the traditional pot and Liverpool shapes, it’s a distinctive take on the long shank motif, one made all the more interesting by the presence of Tendi’s hallmark, ring grain sandblast finishing.   Details: Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm Bowl Depth: 1.46″ / 37.08mm Weight: 1.6oz / 46g