Autograph Smooth Bent Billiard (6) (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 bent Billiard is graded "6," and it's easy to see how it ended up in Savinelli's Autograph collection. The grain is excellent, the shaping unique while still managing great symmetry, and the combination of stain and finish make this piece shine brightly. The bowl is teardrop-shaped, pointing from the fore and only lightly rounded at the aft, with tight flame grain on the walls and thick birdseye on the rim. Further birdseye coats the top and bottom of the shank, with flame grain on the sides, and the heel arcs upward to a rotund point with the ridgeline running down the fore of the bowl. The shank is bent gently upward into a black acrylic stem, itself bent gently downward toward the bit. Despite the muscular shank and substantial walls of the bowl, this piece still manages to be quite light at just under one and one-half ounces.