Smooth Bent Billiard with Silver (L2) (2026) Tobacco Pipe

Thomas Manzoni supervised pipe assembly at Chapuis-Comoy for 15 years and remains with the storied French marque, though he has worked his way up to crafting his own complete pipes under the La Bruyere brand. By his own estimation, his greatest strength in pipe making is having worked in Saint-Claude, a veritable hotbed of pipe making for centuries, and he names Dunhill, Tom Eltang, and Pierre Morel as his greatest inspirations. Manzoni trained under Morel and Bruno Nuttens and uses a wide variety of materials in addition to briar — morta, olive wood, horn, and ebonite among them.

This Billiard comes from the first batch of La Bruyeres ever sold by Smokingpipes, and right off the bat, Thomas offers a classically-shaped piece of remarkable beauty. The flame grain of the straightforward Billiard bowl is straight, tight, and easily observed with a lovingly smooth finish all the way back to the junction of shank and stem. Thomas signifies this junction with an accent ring of silver, and the cumberland stem is minutely bent — more noticeably on the bottom — as it tapers back to the bit. It's precisely made pipe at barely over a single ounce in weight, and Thomas managed to imbue it with an air of professionalism and diligence.