Sykes Wilford and I are very excited to talk about a special project commemorating Smokingpipes' 25th anniversary: the Claudio Cavicchi x Smokingpipes 25th Anniversary pipes.

[Shane Ireland]: Why don't you tell us a little bit about how integral Claudio's brand of pipes has been to the company?

[Sykes Wilford]: We have worked with Claudio for almost the entire history of the company. We started around 2005 so we're talking 20 years, at this point. We have been his primary retailer and he has been a major pipe maker on Smokingpipes for that entire time.

Exacting Craftsmanship & Aesthetic Inspirations

[SW]: Claudio is exacting in a way that few humans are. One of my favorite anecdotes early on with Claudio was us asking him the very natural question of what do we do if we have returns? And he said, what do you mean? You will have no problems like that with my pipes.

[SI]: And he was right.

[SW]: In 25 years, out of thousands of pipes, there's only been one.

[SI]: Claudio really is a special pipe maker. For me, as a collector and admirer of the craft, he occupies a space somewhere between a traditional and old-school approach with modern standards and a high level of quality. Even from a design perspective, he's not what you would typically think of when you're thinking about the Italian school. Clearly he's influenced by Anglo-French pipes, like many pipe makers are, but there's this really nice balance between some neoclassical proportions and modern interpretations of English pipes.

[SW]: He also has a really diverse set of aesthetic resources that he draws upon.

[SI]: He's a bit of a chameleon.

[SW]: Yeah, he overtly references Danish pipe making. There's a very particular Adam Davidson shape from years ago that he fell in love with and then started making his own version of it. He draws on a lot of aesthetic inspirations.

[SI]: He just loves pipes. In terms of quality, fit, and finish, I think everybody that's ever held or experienced one of Claudio's pipes would attest to this, but they're perfect. They're always perfect. The level of detail and the meticulousness is always evident, and it's always a pleasure to see what he's been working on.

Highly Limited 25th Anniversary Pipes

[SI]: These 25th Anniversary pipes are a callback of sorts.

[SW]: Yes, absolutely. For Smokingpipes' 10th anniversary, Claudio made the Anniversary pipe for us, which was a Lovat with silver. It was super fun talking through that whole project with him again over the last 18 months or so, and then realizing another anniversary project with him.

[SI]: I remember when those were released as a customer before I worked here. It was a fantastic classic Lovat and the silver work was awesome. I love the fact that we've elected to do that again with Claudio for the 25th anniversary. It's another interpretation of an archetypal classic shape, a bent Billiard, and it also features silver.

I love the little step down in the negative space on the shank there. I love that it emphasizes certain characteristics of the pipe. The quality of the wood here is insane.

[SW]: It's almost impossibly good.

[SI]: We have a representation of a couple of his different grades, so there's a couple of different price points here. If you're not familiar with Claudio's grading system, typically the smooths are graded with C's from three to five, and that's what we have here. We have CCC, CCCC, and CCCCC pipes, and all of 'em are stunning.

This is also a departure stain wise from what he typically does.

[SW]: Yes. When he and I were talking about finalizing this project at the beginning of this year, we discussed ways to tie it together with the silver and have a consistent stain across the series, and also differentiate it from his regular pipes. We decided to use the Perla stain, the same one he uses for his Perla-graded pipes.

[SI]: That would be the first time that he's used that stain on C-graded pieces, right?

[SW]: To my knowledge, yes.

[SI]: Awesome. And it turned out great. The quality of the wood here is incredible and the contrast that you're getting from the grain is really vibrant.

[SW]: It's warm, rich, and comforting. I also just really like the stain.

[SI]: Yeah, absolutely. So we have three-to-five C-graded pipes here, all wearing the Perla finish, with sterling silver and the Smokingpipes 25th Anniversary stamp. Only 25 pieces were made.

[SW]: 25 pipes for 25 years.

[SI]: Highly limited, a gorgeous shape, and perfect proportions. These are great smokers, no doubt. Check them out now on-site.