Michel Naturals 682 Smooth Opera Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Michel pipes were store-brand pipes made for Maison Michel, a North Carolina (USA) tobacconist run by Michel J. Mitchell between 1951 and 1980. Over the years, several prominent pipe-makers made pipes for Maison Michel, such as Charatan, Barling, and others.

The opera is a relatively strange shape in the world of pipe design, even in a world of extravagant Danish creations. This is because, unlike most pipes, it has an oval chamber, rather than a conical one. It is hypothesized that the design was intended to be easily stowed in one’s inside jacket pocket. Regardless of its strangeness, the opera has remained a minor staple in pipe-making for around a century, and continues to attract pipe smokers and pipe-makers (especially artisans) alike.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.13″ / 28.70mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 28g