Autograph Smooth Bent Dublin Sitter (00) (6mm) Tobacco Pipe

Achille Savinelli set out to break the Italian government's monopoly on tobacco when he opened his own smoke shop in Milan in 1876. Though clay and meerschaum ruled the pipe market in those days, Achille had faith that the briar pipes he designed and had manufactured in Varese would make a breakthrough, and he was right. Production of Savinelli pipes continues to this day, with its Autograph line representing the company's finest products. The line's incredibly high standards, including specially-selected briar, limit the number of Autographs Savinelli can make each year. Savinelli grades its best Autographs on a descending scale of 000, 00, and 0, followed by 8, 6, 5, 4, and 3.

This Freehand is graded "00," and it's easy to see how it made the upper echelon of Savinelli's finest works. The bowl and shank wear tight flame grain, all of it easily accessible to the eyes thanks to a very smooth finish that allows the stummel to shine brightly. The bowl is canted forward — as is traditional for a Dublin — when this pipe sits on its flat heel, and both the rim of the bowl and the shank face are ovular and encrusted with fine plateau. The stummel takes on an asymmetrical "V" shape, as the lines denoting the underside of the shank and the fore of the bowl come to an end at opposite sides of the heel. The stem is black acrylic, tapered to a wide, flat bit. The ingenuity of the shaping and the excellence of the finish and coloring make this a fine specimen of Savinelli's, one that will be at home with any collection of their work.