Black Sandblasted Bent Billiard with Ivorite 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 Billiard from Cavicchi is sandblasted and darkly stained over an initial reddish stain, allowing flecks of ruby to be observed and appreciated among the dark waves of ring grain at the forefront. The sandblast offers a fascinating touch to the lightly-tapered Billiard bowl, which is backed by a dramatically upturned, muscular shank punctuated by a thin ring of Ivorite. The saddle stem is a wide length of black acrylic with squared shoulders that bends generously on its way to the bit. Cavicchi's beautiful use of color on the stummel makes this piece stand out in any crowd of bent Billiards, as does the masterful sandblast.