Vauen: Beginner Kit (3) (9mm) Tobacco Pipe

Germany's oldest marque, Vauen, has a vaunted history going back more than 170 years, so it's the perfect company from which to purchase a pipe starter kit. This all-encompassing package includes pipe cleaners, carbon filters, a pipe tool and a handy "how-to" brochure that's quite detailed. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, it comes with a well-made bent Brandy pipe dressed in the marque's refined Basic finish. Displaying a slight forward cant, with the softness of line and supple roundness often associated with Danish shaping cues, this piece is wearing a dark, glossy stain lent further elegance by a pair of twin metallic accents for a rather formal, dress-pipe disposition.