Amazing thread. No one has seen the pipe in hand, yet most everybody seems to think it is a POS. Nobody knows who the buyer is, but it seems to be assumed that it would be an ignoramus. Savinelli as a company has , by the gist of this thread, lost all of its integrity by chasing the high end (reading between the lines, Chinese) market.
I have bought pipes very close to that price range, back when I could afford it. I am thinking of two in particular that I bought new, smoked and enjoyed. When circumstances changed, I sold them at a very good price, but still a loss. I know where they are now,and the current owner is really,really pleased to have them. He is in his 70's, an extremely successful and shrewd businessman, has been to Italy many times (he speaks the language) and I have seen pictures of him with Franco Coppo, Luigi Radice and Giancarlo Guidi, among other Italian pipe makers, in their workshops and also several shop owners I see that he is Facebook friends with some of the younger Italian carvers. I imagine he has supported their work. I doubt he bought that GDO, but if he did, he would get great pleasure from it, as he has the other pipes in his collection, not all of which are high end by any stretch of the imagination.
But I guess he would be a fool to most of you, and the pipe should only bring him misery and bad luck. Amazing thread.