Brown Sandblasted Cherrywood 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 Cherrywood from Cavicchi is sandblasted to bring out the growth rings and flame grain of the stummel, allowing them to run across each other without restraint and give both bowl and shank a satisfying texture. The shaping is also fascinating, with the bowl bulging outward softly at both aft and fore to give the appearance of a slender, miniature barrel. The shank is sharply upturned and begins from shortly above the flat heel, yielding to the heavily bent stem of tapered black acrylic. A light brown stain colors the stummel, finishing this piece beautifully.