Black Sandblasted Bent Dublin with Olivewood Tobacco Pipe

Claudio Cavicchi is not only a renowned pipe maker but also a renowned pipe smoker, having won the Committee International of Pipe Smokers Clubs' slow smoking world championship in 1993 by keeping three grams of tobacco lit for just over three hours and nine minutes. Cavicchi only took up pipe making full-time after a 30-year farming career, turning his first pipe when he decided to make his own Oom Paul rather than continuing to wait for delivery of one he already ordered. Cavicchi pipes are known for their superior grain, with former Pipes and tobaccos magazine editor Chuck Stanion remarking that their titular maker "can read briar as though it were a printed page."

This bent Dublin from Cavicchi is led by a substantial, forward-canted conical bowl — typical of a Dublin — with a wide, wavy rim, all of it sandblasted over a red stain that can be seen in the nomenclature panel near the end of the stummel and in specks that occasionally manage to shine through the sandblast. The effect is marvelous, and is well-complemented by the large olivewood accent that comprised the shoulders of the saddle stem. The rest of the stem is fashioned black acrylic, bent to roughly level with the rim when it arrives a wide bit. The use of color and accent is well-done by Cavicchi here, as is the sandblast that gives the smoker such a unique touch.