Just occured me to ask, does anybody know about whereabouts of Stanwell production in Italy?At which locations they are being crafted nowadays.
Italian Made Stanwells and manufacturing plant
- Thread starter PaulTheScandinavian
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I do not. But as a Stanwell fan, I would like to state that I find Italian Stanwells, though less aesthetically pleasing, smoke just fine.
This piqued my curiosity, so I chased around Google and surmise that it is in Livorno, Italy, a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany. This is also the home of the Italian Naval Academy, sort of like our Annapolis. Stanwell either took over or contracted an Italian pipe workshop that made a different brand. If anyone can confirm or correct this notion, I'd be interested. I agree that the Italian plant is doing a good job. All four of my Stanwells are Italian made and good smokers.
Thanks MSO. Though I am opposed to "off-shoring" production, I must admit that I can't tell the difference in smokeability. It is a shame, however, that Danish craftsman will have to retire or find a new line of work. Ain't globalization grand? Perhaps they can find a new career in creating iPhone apps. Yet I can't help thinking: what will the Italian workers do when their labor is deemed too expensive for the shareholders? Perhaps they too may be repurposed as app developers while the act of actual production is moved further and further towards the destination of lowest labor cost. When the Chinese outlive their usefulness, perhaps the Stanwell shareholders might find satisfaction with the workers of Vietnam? Cambodia? Bangladesh?
Perique, I agree relocations in general don't bode well. Stanwell seems to have done alright because they relocated to Italy with its own long tradition of pipe making. Pipe workshops that move to, or back to France similarly benefit from the pre-existing culture and the expertise of the craftsmen. Denmark still has stellar crafts people and manufacturers -- Nording and Johansen (Johs) just to name two. But tradition and culture in each nation is part of the romance of tobacco pipes and something is lost when makers move around. Falcon from the U.S. to England. Jobey from France, to England, to the U.S., back to France. And so on. Some say Dunhill has its briar carved in Italy; I don't know, but it doesn't sound particularly improbable, and that certainly isn't what I'd be looking for in a Dunhill pipe. I'd just buy a Ser Jacopo or other fine Italian brand.
Mso489,Thanks for sharing this valuable information,and thanks for your time spent in online-research,,
Personally, I would rather have spent more money to get more aesthetically pleasing pipe from Stanwell. There was a special "something" about the Danish made ones. QA Viking umph.
SP had a handful of Danish made Stanwells, and then I looked again and they were gone. Now on the page with all brands of pipe, Stanwell says "call for price,"or something like that. For Italian made Stanwells, PC seems to be the source, and they have excellent prices up and down the price schedule.
Mso489: have a look see at pipes.ws, most of my Stanwells are from this trader though is in eu/hungary
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