Black Sandblasted Bent Billiard with Olivewood Tobacco Pipe

Claudio Cavicchi is not only a renowned pipe maker but also a renowned pipe smoker, having won the Committee International of Pipe Smokers Clubs' slow smoking world championship in 1993 by keeping three grams of tobacco lit for just over three hours and nine minutes. Cavicchi only took up pipe making full-time after a 30-year farming career, turning his first pipe when he decided to make his own Oom Paul rather than continuing to wait for delivery of one he already ordered. Cavicchi pipes are known for their superior grain, with former Pipes and tobaccos magazine editor Chuck Stanion remarking that their titular maker "can read briar as though it were a printed page."

This bent Billiard from Cavicchi is fronted by a bowl that is almost Apple-like in its shaping, featuring a light taper to both fore and aft. The rich, dark waves of sandblast still allow for flecks of ruby-stained briar to peek out from underneath and provide a rich, smooth touch. The shank flares lightly outward as it stretches back to the junction, which is capped with a ring of olivewood as an accent. The stem is black acrylic, bending and tapering back from a short, stout cone. The sandblast allows the stummel a wonderful touch, but Cavicchi's rounded, playful shaping gives this piece a profile that sets it well apart from the typical bent Billiard.