Smooth Bent Billiard (CCCCC) 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 graded this bent Billiard with five C's, reflecting excellent grain and shaping, both of which are easily observed here. A hearty helping of birdseye dresses the rim of the bowl and top and underside of the shank, while tight, near-perfectly vertical tendrils of flame grain take up residence everywhere else on the stummel. The finish is highly glossy to reflect the light with ease, and the stain presents the stummel in a light maple hue. The walls of the bowl are tapered to almost Brandy-like effect, and the muscular shank is upturned directly into the shoulders of a bent stem of black acrylic which ends with crisp ridgelines framing a wide bit.