Italian Pipes: Just my Style?

[woodsroad]

The Italians make the best Danish pipes, too!

I call BS on the country of origin determining quality. Stanwell is a prime example. I always loved Stanwell pipes, and especially the entire Stanwell story of working closely with Danish pipe carvers/designers, the work ethos of the Danes, and the family atmosphere of the Borup factory, was part of that enjoyment. When STG (a Danish company) bought out Stanwell, closed the factory, and moved production to Italy, I was dismayed, and promised to never buy one of the new, bogus, Italian Stanwells, That didn't last long. Well, the Italian Stanwells are ever bit as good as the Danish originals. Different, to be certain, but they are exceptional pipes.

Quality lies in craftsmanship, QC and materials. No nation has a lock on that, and no nation can (or has any desire to) enforce quality standards on pipe makers.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Italian pipes do tend to have and open draw, that could be a factor. I also love Castello / Radice / Ascorti for the open draw and stems/bit.

I have found over the years that different countries / areas have different ways of approaching things. There will be differences in the manufacture of most things, although as the world shrinks these changes are less apparent. Pipe making is an older art form slow to change, so the differences will remain a bit longer.

 

[Lumbridge]

Hey, you found something that you like and works well for you. For me, generally it's French pipes, but there are undoubtedly many high quality Italian briars, and I own several Italians as well. Some people claim that they notice different effects on flavor between Italian briar, Greek, Algerian (here we go), etc. Personally, I don't notice a consistent, definitive difference, and I think it has more to do with construction.

 

[sasquatch]

I think the construction is a bigger factor. You could give me the best briar on earth and I could make a pipe that's a crappy smoker by misaligning certain things, leaving other things rough, whatever. And that, by and large, is what the mid-grade Italian pipe gets right - reasonably large airways (where British and French pipes are often 1/8" or less which is easily occluded by a half drop of condensate), smoothly polished interiors on stems, and good clean briar on top of it.

The other thing I've seen in 20 years of watching this community, is guys will pick up some grubby old estate or their grand-dad's crusty old pipe and smoke it with an oxydized stem and it tastes terrible. Move to an acrylic stem on an Italian pipe and MAGIC, I can taste the tobacco! Because there's nothing else to taste.

 

[woodsroad]

I think the construction is a bigger factor. You could give me the best briar on earth and I could make a pipe that's a crappy smoker by misaligning certain things, leaving other things rough, whatever. And that, by and large, is what the mid-grade Italian pipe gets right - reasonably large airways (where British and French pipes are often 1/8" or less which is easily occluded by a half drop of condensate), smoothly polished interiors on stems, and good clean briar on top of it.

The other thing I've seen in 20 years of watching this community, is guys will pick up some grubby old estate or their grand-dad's crusty old pipe and smoke it with an oxydized stem and it tastes terrible. Move to an acrylic stem on an Italian pipe and MAGIC, I can taste the tobacco! Because there's nothing else to taste.

Which is why I really like clays.

 

[Ryan]

One thing that is different about the Italian pipes I have; most of them have a concave space drilled at the stem end, like the one below.



It’s a little thing, but it is a difference.

By the way, the picture above is an estate pipe I just got from SP today. Looks like I had better give it a little cleaning before use.

 

[johnnyflake]

I believe that the Italians have access, from decades of hording to better quality Briar and their tendency to use a slightly larger draft hole makes them the great smoking pipes that they are!

 

[AreBee]

The pipe arrived last night and I am very happy with what I see. The packaging and presentation were amazing, complete with a wax seal and a handwritten note of thanks from the owner. The pipe itself is beautiful and the stem fitment is flush. It came in an orange leather zipper pouch with the Sisimbro logo on it. Looking forward to trying it out this afternoon.

 

[AroEnglish]

The pipe arrived last night and I am very happy with what I see. The packaging and presentation were amazing, complete with a wax seal and a handwritten note of thanks from the owner. The pipe itself is beautiful and the stem fitment is flush. It came in an orange leather zipper pouch with the Sisimbro logo on it. Looking forward to trying it out this afternoon.

View attachment 305795View attachment 305792View attachment 305793View attachment 305794

Those little touches always go a long way, at least with me.

 

[AreBee]

I just filled it with a custom shop blend and it smoked very well too.