Brown Sandblasted Pot 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."

Cavicchi did a rather no-nonsense job with this Pot, giving it straight, heavily muscular walls a rich sandblast over a medium brown stain, and a very short, muscular shank matched to a saddle stem of black acrylic. The generous proportions are what take this pipe away from the typical Pot — it tips the scales at about one-sixth of a pound, and the bowl is nearly two inches deep despite the Pot shape being noted for its squat bowls. The bit is quite wide, as well, and the heel wide enough to allow this piece to sit upright on its own with ease despite not being perfectly flat. In addition to its value as a desk pipe, it feels quite generous in the hand and will no doubt be a treasured addition to any collection of Italian handiwork.