My Very Special 60th Birthday Pipe by Savinelli

[FurCoat]

That is just frekin awesome. You deserve it.

 

[BriarsAndBottles]

@TheIronMonkey I’ll be hitting my third rabbit cycle this year myself in April. What a beautiful pipe and wonderful thing to commemorate!

 

[PipesRock]

Wow, very nice and Happy belated Birthday!!

 

[trudger]

Well told story for an amazing pipe. It’s all about the people that made it happen and it’s cool you can share it with people who appreciate it. Thanks for sharing and again, Happy Birthday Jeff.

 

[sablebrush52]

Jeff,

That is an extraordinary story with a magnificently happy ending. Congratulations on the once in a lifetime pipe!

Oh yeah, belated Happy Birthday!

J

 

[UB 40]

In my Birthday Haul 2023* thread, I shared some pics of two birth year Dunhills and a pipe from the collection of the late pipe maker, Thomas Cristiano, that was made from a gnarled briar root that retained most of its original organic form; the Dunhills are both sixty years old this year and the root pipe was supposedly in Cristiano’s personal collection for about sixty years. While these pipes could be considered special in their own right, as @LotusEater pointed out, I mentioned that I would post about a very special birthday pipe in the weeks to come—that pipe has finally arrived and is in hand, but first some background is needed to fully appreciate why it’s so special.

Back in 2017, Savinelli received a shipment of stellar briar from Calabria. Shane Ireland of smokingpipes.com reported on his visit to the Savinelli factory. While he was there, one of the senior artisans, Massimo, was working on an Autograph Freehand Fan shaped pipe that showed incredible promise (there was an “Around the Burl” video at smokingpipes.com that showed this pipe being worked on, that used to be hosted on YouTube—it has since been taken down and now resides on Vimeo†). With this shape, there’s little wiggle room to work around a flaw if one reveals itself while carving. Massimo showed the nearly completed pipe to the factory manager, Luisa Bozzetti, and Shane Ireland. They all agreed that it would make an exquisite sandblast provided no flaws reared their ugly heads during the final stages of completion. Massimo went ahead with the blast. As good fortune would have it, it went without a hitch; there were no blemishes, and the pipe was given the exalted grade of “Extraordinaire” (in Italian, “Eccezionale,” which translates more accurately to “Exceptional.”) Savinelli Autograph pipes are strictly graded according to shape, grain, and quality using these grades (also referred to as groups by Savinelli) in ascending order: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, with the next level up being 0, 00, and 000 (the penultimate). The Extraordinaire grade of Autograph is almost as rare as hen’s teeth, and is the highest of the high, considered an even higher grade than the infrequently seen 000 (this grade should not be confused with the “EX” designation, which also stands for Extraordinaire, but is a reference to a pipe’s physical size, like “KS” or “King Size”); the Extraordinaire/Eccezionale grade has nothing to do with size, only the quality of the pipe. I’ve recently read that Savinelli produces approximately 100,000 pipes annually (this number was around 80,000 in 2015, so pipe sales must’ve improved in the last eight years; compare that to their production number of 400,000 circa 1973, and it’s downright sad). In years past, it has been written that on average, perhaps, only two or three Extraordinaire pipes are produced in a five-year period—this should give you a pretty good idea of what a miniscule percentage an Extraordinaire represents in relation to the company’s total output; based on these numbers, approximately one out of every quarter million Savinelli pipes is an Extraordinaire. I‘ve noticed an increase in Extraordinaires offered in the last couple of years, so the 1:250,000 ratio may no longer hold true—even so, they still represent a drop in the bucket. This Fan had amazing ring grain and straight grain. Rather than mask this grain structure with stain, the decision was made to leave the pipe in a true virgin finish—no stain, no wax, no nothing. It was the first virgin, sandblasted, Extraordinaire Fan ever produced by the company. It was sold on smokingpipes.com

Below are pics of this pipe and its presentation box:

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So, last year, in 2022, I saw four Autograph Extraordinaire pipes offered for sale on Savinelli’s own website, among them, a virgin, sandblasted, Fan. Knowing how infrequently an Extraordinaire turns up, and that only one other virgin, sandblasted, Fan had been released (to the best of my knowledge), I started eyeballing this pipe big time. I liked the pipe’s squared off chili pepper-like stem and presentation box with its scalloped corner cutouts and blue rounded pillars much better than the pipe stem and box of the 2017 pipe. I began seriously thinking about treating myself to this pipe for my upcoming 60th birthday in February of 2023. Living through five complete twelve-year Chinese Zodiac Rabbit cycles seemed like a worthy thing to commemorate. Why not mark the event with a special pipe? I had designed a reissue of a novel by one of my closest friends (whom I met in art school forty years ago this coming Fall) and thought it would be a nice sentiment to take the book design fee and forever associate my design for my friend’s book with this birthday pipe. The gig was a last minute save because the book had to go to press soon; the previous designer hadn’t done a satisfactory job typesetting the interior of the book. My friend refused to have his novel presented so poorly and wanted me to salvage the project and keep production on schedule. After a brief video meeting and a virtual handshake with the publisher, I worked under a very tight deadline on the book design and delivered the interior and cover in time so that the novel would come out as scheduled. There was a wrinkle in my plan to use the proceeds from the book for the pipe—payments got switched to a portal system before my invoice got processed and I had never been entered into that new system by anyone at the publishing house. After the book came out, there were many e-mails back and forth trying to get someone to enter me into the system; there were major delays and the funds from the book (for the pipe) were stuck in limbo. All I could do was look at the pipe on Savinelli’s website (I wasn’t ready to spring for the pipe without that payment). Black Friday rolled around, and I failed to realize that Black Friday sales were international. Everything on Savinelli’s website was heavily discounted that day, and someone smartly snagged the Extraordinaire Fan earlier that morning before I thought to check the website; had I taken into account the time difference in Italy, I might’ve checked sooner, in the middle of the night. With the big discount, I would’ve considered possibly diverting some earmarked shekels for the pipe. I was crestfallen. Part of me almost felt like I jinxed getting this pipe after I had downloaded and saved thirty photos of it from the 360° view a few days earlier, something akin to counting my chickens before they hatched.

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More to follow.

It seems to be a great birthday gift, my dear and I really was curious and tried but couldn’t read that long column.

I’m sure it would be helpful to the reader to structure such a long text with paragraphs and intermediate lines. Please, just hit the return button twice from time to time.

 

[karam]

The blast is sublime, and the story is very heart-warming! Great to hear there's still some old school humanity out there, congrats and happy belated birthday!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

It seems to be a great birthday gift, my dear and I really was curious and tried but couldn’t read that long column.

I’m sure it would be helpful to the reader to structure such a long text with paragraphs and intermediate lines. Please, just hit the return button twice from time to time.

I’m sorry you couldn’t get through it, but the paragraphs were arranged with complete themes and divided as necessary. They might’ve been a tad long, but hardly as difficult to track as a William Faulkner paragraph.

In a nutshell:

1. Saw a pipe with a rare finish.

2. Missed a pipe with a rare finish.

3. Got a pipe with a rare finish.

 

[Chasing Embers]

The Savinelli blue stem really completes the composition, very nice!

 

[Zero]

Thank you all! My birthday was back in February (all the good wishes still very much appreciated!)

I was excited and looking forward to sharing the pipe with you sooner, but it got delayed in Customs. Tracking: In the Warehouse. It got flagged because there was a misunderstanding about what kind of pipe this was (there was a Customs note about stainless steel, hazardous materials, and disposal—the only thing I could think of was the hinges might be an issue?)—I was asked to fill out a form if this was subject to ADD and/or CVD, or not subject to ADD and/or CVD (I had no idea). In the Warehouse. Held by a Government Agency. Many phone calls and e-mails followed. Eventually, photos of the contents of the box had to be sent to clear matters up. Back in the Warehouse. I had visions of the box getting opened and being handled by greasy hands and everything getting confiscated and burned. Awaiting Clearance. In Warehouse again. To think this unique, irreplaceable pipe might have gotten destroyed through a misunderstanding was nerve wracking. Ugh. Thankfully, it all worked out.

Then, things got further delayed because I wanted to take some photos that were closer to colour correct and more neutral than I normally bother with, in order to present the pipe as it deserves. Getting some 5000 Kelvin Daylight bulbs helped get the colour closer to natural. I thought I would share a few close ups for you to check out the sandblast and grain.


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Did the guy's hands look like this in your vision? Your Pipe's on Fire Hey little monkey, is your pipe at home? Did it go away and leave you all alone? Mhmm, I got a bad desire. Oh, oh, oh, your pipe's on fire. Tell me now, monkey, is it good for you? Do you smoke it as well as I did too? Oh no, I can light the fire. Oh, oh, oh, your pipe's on fire. Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, monkey, edgy and dull and tilted my pipe and reamed out my bowl. At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head , only your pipe can cool my desire. Oh, oh, oh, your pipe's on fire Woo-ooh-ooh, Woo-ooh-ooh, Ooh-ooh-ooh!

 

[TheIronMonkey]

Here are a few shots with indirect natural light from a window that better show off the natural colour of the briar:

 

[yohanan]

Happy Belated Birthday, and congats on your acquisition!!!

 

[dunnyboy]

This is the most extraordinary pipe story I've ever read! It's like you got outbid at auction for a painting by David Hockney and ended up having your portrait painted and custom framed by him instead! Truly a once in a lifetime experience. Although, I can't wait to see what happens on your 70th birthday. Congratulations and enjoy!

 

[KORNEY]

Wawoo!
Happy Birthday!!!

 

[ashdigger]

take the book design fee and forever associate my design for

 

[ashdigger]

Wow. Happy Birthday.

I’m stoked this came together for you.

We’re essentially the same age, as my birthday is roughly two weeks away.

The only thing I have planned is no plan.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Wow. Happy Birthday.

I’m stoked this came together for you.

We’re essentially the same age, as my birthday is roughly two weeks away.

The only thing I have planned is no plan.

Now if only we could get Peterson to do the same for you…

 

[Honkytonk Man]

Congratulations, Jeff, great news!

Really happy for you buddy.

 

[mso489]

In fifteen years you can smoke that pipe and reminisce on your days as a callow lad of sixty. Save some of those prime Virginias for the occasion.

 

[Backwoods Briar]

@TheIronMonkey . Fantastic story. Happy birthday and congratulations!