Jacono (Tonino Jacono)

Jacono is a small pipe workshop Tonino Jacono runs alone in Jesi, in Italy's Marche region. Pipes bearing his stamp have been made in limited numbers since 1983; the brand is best known in the community for its unusual system of naming its quality grades after chess pieces.

The Road to the Workshop

Tonino Jacono's start in the trade was not the result of a planned career. Good briar was already close at hand within the family: his father-in-law ran a timber mill that cut block and plateau for major Italian pipe factories, and could pick out the best pieces from the tons of blocks passing through it. When his brother-in-law, who had an interest in pipe making, bought the necessary machinery, a three-person venture was set up in 1981 aiming at freehand pipes. The claim that the venture was founded in Calabria rests on a single account. Each had a defined role: preparing and drilling the wood fell to the father-in-law, rough shaping and sanding to the brother-in-law, and finishing and marketing to Jacono.

This partnership did not last long; after about a year and a half, Jacono decided to strike out on his own and returned to Marche in 1983. In October of that same year, the first pipes stamped "JACONO" emerged from his small workshop in Jesi. Records show he buys his briar from the same supplier used by established workshops such as Cavicchi, and seasons it a few more years himself in his own storage.