Black Sandblasted Bent Brandy 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 Brandy from Cavicchi is sandblasted to draw out excellent growth rings against the flame grain and stained darkly, but specks of ruby-tinged briar can be observed here and there on the stummel, true to Cavicchi's Black finish. The bowl is typical of a Brandy with its tapered, sloping walls and is backed with a sharply upturned shank that reaches to stand nearly level with the bowl before the stem takes over. The stem is a saddle-style length of black acrylic that pushes this piece just outside of Nosewarmer territory to all of 4.73 inches. It's nonetheless a substantial piece in hand at about two and one-quarter ounces, and its grain makes it a great find for any collector.