Savinelli Autograph 8 Smooth Freehand Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

It is probably fair to say that Savinelli is Italy’s most famous pipe brand. Founded in Milan in 1876 by Achille Savinelli, the brand has continuously offered high quality pipes for nearly 150 years. Though various Savinelli lines have come and gone over the years, the brand has always been notable for putting out classically styled pipes with a distinctly Italian twist.

Like the Charatan freehand workshop in mid-20th century England, or even like Tsuge’s Ikebana workshop in late-20th century and 21st century Japan, Savinelli has its own, special area of the company’s campus reserved for master artisans, where non-standard pipe shapes are carved using artisan techniques. Unlike their standard, machine-turned pipes, Savinelli’s Autographs are also graded, with ascending numbers for their quality. This one is a grade 8, putting it just below Savinelli’s extremely rare “0” grades. With such tight, uniform straight grain on its bowl, and glistening bird’s-eye patterns on its rim, it’s not hard to see how this Autograph achieved such a high certification. I’d compare it favorably to W.O. Larsen’s coveted Straight Grain grades, for example.

The condition is excellent. There’s a little inner rim darkening, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.8″ / 45.72mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g