Vitale Smooth Pot w/ Horn (Sun) Handmade Briar Pipe, New

Description

As a child, Piero Vitale spent many an afternoon in the workshop of his grandfather, who was a carpenter and luthier. This proclivity for working with his hands translated into a number of artistic pursuits as he grew up, including painting and wood carving. Then Vitale was introduced to the world of handmade pipes by a friend and was immediately fascinated. The work of masters such as Tom Eltang and Kent Rasmussen showed that pipes could be true works of art while also being precisely engineered smoking instruments. For over a decade, Vitale has crafted his own hand made pipes, developing a distinct style that expertly balances form and function. This has led to partnerships with several Italian pipe companies, for which Vitale has provided designs, but his greatest achievements continue to be those pipes that he makes by hand alone in his workshop, in a small village in Lombardy.

As I was saying in a previous listing, it is no less than impressive for a pipe-maker to take a classic shape—especially one so heavily associated with the post-war artisan scene—and to make it one’s own. Yet this is what Piero Vitale continues to do. Despite having its origins in the earliest traditions of briar pipes, the humble pot would, in the later 20th century, become a fixture in modern, Scandinavian pipe-making. Danish icons such as Jess Chonowitsch, as well as their successors abroad, such as Adam Davidson, made that same essential shape into something fresh and novel. There is certainly something of Chonowitsch and co. in this pot from Vitale, thanks to the slightly conical profile and generally softer angles of its bowl, but here the similarities end. What could have been a simple—though certainly well executed—homage becomes a creation far more unto its own. A slender, slightly bent horn ferrule assumes the role of Vitale’s signature, pencil shanks. This, along with the pipe’s compact length has the effect of making the bowl appear even fuller and more protuberant. The subtle tones of the ferrule also act as a foil to further set off the bowl’s fiery grain. With all this in mind, it is little wonder that the pipe attained Vitale’s highest, “Sun,” grade.

 

Details:

Length: 5.2″ / 132.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.68 / 17.27mm

Bowl Depth: 1.3″ / 33.02mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g