Viprati Collection Grade Smooth Opera Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Much like in Denmark or Japan, many of the great names in Italian artisan pipe-making got their start working for other greats in their famous workshops. This was the case for artisans such as Giancarlo Guidi, Luigi Radice, Sergio Ascorti, and Maurizio Tombari. Luigi Viprati, on the other hand, is one of the few self-taught Italian pipe-makers of the 20th century to have reached the same heights as such contemporaries. First picking up the craft in 1972, Viprati would ultimately become one of the defining names in Italian pipes, which he remains to this day.

Ordinarily, Viprati pipes are graded using the stamp of a four leaf clover, or quadrifoglio, with grades ranging from one quadrifoglio to five quadrifogli. But then there are special pipes that transcend this system. This Collection grade Viprati is one of those pipes. Reserved for pipes with extraordinarily good grain, Collection grade pipes allow Luigi Viprati’s talents with briar to truly shine. This one is an opera shape of sorts (though with a conical chamber, much like the 44 shape from Castello), with tight, “angel hair” straight grain running across the entirety of its bowl, as well as much of the sides of its shank. The rim is furthermore covered in bird’s-eye patterns, and an exotic wood accent has been spliced into the pipe’s Italian Lucite stem.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening and a few scratches around the bowl.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.46″ / 37.08mm

Weight: 2.7oz / 78g