I see a number of people have these. I've never owned one but they sure are prolific on ebay and have some interesting shapes. For those that have them, how do you like them? How is the quality?
Top notch.
I am quite pleased with mine. They are well made and good smokers. I did take a needle file to the mouthpiece slit on on of them to open the airway just a bit. But that's likely a matter of preference. The other one was wide open and a great smoke day 1.
If you can find the 2 pipe duet listing I'd recommend it. I ended up with 2 very nice pipes for about $45 a piece including shipping.
I have three, two of which are quite large and I’m happy with them. They look great and are all very good smokers. The only knock I’ve heard on them is regarding their stems...nothing major, but one of my larger ones has a saddle bit which I wish was a little sturdier considering the weight of the pipe. One nice thing is that their stems are plain (no branding) so if you replaced one it shouldn’t have any impact on the pipes value.
I smoke non-aromatic blends in the stack billiard. The other two pictured I use for aromatics... their bowls are so thick that you have to do some serious puffing to get them hot.
BTW Mario Grandi only sells their pipes on eBay, well at least that’s how they are distributed in the United States.
Nope no fills that I've seen on mine.
One advantage of the duets is they tend to be "smaller" pipes which by Mario Grandi standards seems to mean normal sized. Both my Poker and Brandy are short and chubby. About 5 inches long but with thick shanks and fairly large bowls/chambers. A little over 3/4 inside diameter chambers and probably 1.5 inches deep or so. Perfect size for me.
Here's a listing for a pretty sweet poker than went up yesterday. Similar to mine except mine is blasted and has a dark/light contrast stain thing going on.
Marios are a good pipe for the money I have issue with them being called hand made if you have seen any of the videos you'll agree there as prodution as the come. That being said you get alot of bang for your buck. Bob.
Man checked a few of these pipes out, they look great for the price. Worried about vulcanite stems with all the pictures of green oxidation. I don't have anyway to clean that up.
Nearly all my pipes are Ebonite/Vulcanite and I have no problems.
Plus it's easy to clean them. A little bleach and some 1500+ grit sandpaper and even the worst looking old groady green ebay pipe stems can be brought back to like new.
Or barring that send 'em to Bob to spit on. Apparently his saliva will remove just about anything shirt of road tar. :>)
That poker is pretty cool. What I like about his shapes is they are very distinctive to them. I also think its cool a guy(s) sit around listening to jazz making pipes, not worry that they have to make $1000 pipes. They just love pipe making for every one.
All three of my Mario Grandi pipes are large. A full bowl in the poker is a time commitment and a great smoke. I said they were large, the apple is 7” long.
I own 4 Mario Grandi pipes, I love that each one is unique and you won't find another one like it in the world. The only thing I don't like is the stem material, I will end up having new stems made in the future. For the price they are beautiful, they smoke great and I enjoy having them in my collection.
I keep looking at the pairs they offer on ebay and just know some day while I am heavily caffeinated and running the net like a rabid hamster I will end up buying a pair.
I seem to hear repeatedly that the less expensive Mario's have stems with a chintzy, plastic feel, altho the higher priced ones are OK. The other thing one has to watch is the chamber diameter. Looks like most are over 22mm, that's .87" -- which is pushing the limit for Va flakes, in my experience anyway. Nice looking pipes though.