What an incredible story!
I need to write 'enjoy the pipe' even though I know that doesn't come close to it. Congrats!
I need to write 'enjoy the pipe' even though I know that doesn't come close to it. Congrats!
My Very Special 60th Birthday Pipe by Savinelli
- Thread starter TheIronMonkey
- Start date
What a wonderful story, perhaps all predicated on wonderful relationships you nurtured as you accumulated those birthdays. Congratulations and belated happy birthday! Happy you have a unique memory for this one.
@TheIronMonkey
Thats a beautiful pipe and to be truthful i dont know if i would smoke it or display it.
Lol
Happy Belated 60th
Thats a beautiful pipe and to be truthful i dont know if i would smoke it or display it.
Lol
Happy Belated 60th
What a great story and outcome. Perhaps my favorite part is where you didn't hesitate to consider smoking it. I hope it's everything you wanted - Happy Birthday!
There have been a few over the years (I've held one). How many total? Guessing: a dozen or so
An Awesome Pipe. The note really makes this a very special piece! I’ll be celebrating my 60th soon and hope to add something special to the collection too.
Most literature lists 000 as the penultimate grade, but if George has seen and held a 0000, it would appear that another gear exists or existed—it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to think the 0000 was the logically named pinnacle of quality that surpassed the 000 and then morphed into the Eccezionale grade that now represents the highest grade of the Autograph line (great, now there’s something else difficult to chase).
I’ve inquired why there is no Autograph Gruppo 7—no one at Savinelli seems to know.
@lifesizehobbit
The pipe gives me much joy and the outcome was better than had I scored the other pipe on Black Friday. I couldn’t justify having the pipe to just sit on a shelf and look at. I could’ve bought art to hang on a wall for that. I wanted something to smoke. That’s not to say I don’t have pipes that I’ve kept virginal (mostly because they came with original packaging and have survived many years unused—lighting them up just turns them into used pipes with nothing notable).
@daveinlax
Thanks, Dave! I hope you find something that thrills you as much as this pipe did me.
View attachment 240464
The pre-corporate-owned "family" era of Savinelli was vastly different than today's company.
It's a bit disturbing, actually. Instead of honoring and building upon what came before, today's Sav seems intent on redefining everything, history included.
Can you elaborate more for those of us who aren’t well versed in Savinelli’s history?View attachment 240464
It's a bit disturbing, actually. Instead of honoring and building upon what came before, today's Sav seems intent on redefining everything, history included.
Penultimate means second to first, so I assumed there was only one grade higher.
I didn't realize eccezionale existed..
In most English speaking countries, the very highest Autograph grade is listed as “Extraordinaire,” but in the original Italian it is called “Eccezionale.” Pipes with this grade are stamped with a single letter “E” and should not be confused with the “EX” size grade which is also known as “Extraordinaire.” With regard to the Autograph line, at least one seller has listed this grade as “Exceptionale” online.
In ascending order of quality, the Autograph line is as follows: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8; the higher tier: 0, 00, 000, Extraordinaire/Eccezionale. For whatever reason, there is no 7. The first Autographs were first made in the early ’70s. Some people have reported seeing Autographs stamped with the number ”2.” As George has seen and handled a “0000,” it would appear much information has been lost to history. To my mind, a higher grade than “000” would naturally be named “0000”—I can imagine that this was renamed as the ”Eccezionale” grade, but that’s just my speculation upon hearing of the “0000” existing. I haven’t seen one yet, but will be looking for one now to be sure.
I found a post on Steve Laug’s site that has some interesting info regarding the “0000” that has to do with a Texas tobacconist called Pipe Pub:
rebornpipes.com
“Jon was not able to confirm positively that the pipe is indeed of Savinelli make (second or otherwise), however, he did point out that Pipe Pub did have an excellent relationship with the Savinelli company, as they were allowed to carry and sell the rare Savinelli 0000 (Quadruple-ought) Autograph, of which only 3 have been produced in the last century. Jon also pointed out that he and another manager sold it to a gentleman who worked for the telephone company to complete a collection of Savinelli Autographs. (He went to the bank and took out a $5000 loan for it. The bank, initially thought he was purchasing ‘oil drilling pipe’, but gave him a personal loan for the tobacco pipe anyways. He kept it in a lock box for a while, then finally broke it out and smoked it for the first time during the 1986 or 1987 Superbowl.)”
The paucity of the number of 0000s produced (as mentioned in this quote) suggests this would be what we now call the Eccezionale.
Pipe Pub Canadian pipes – rebornpipes
Posts about Pipe Pub Canadian pipes written by rebornpipes
rebornpipes.com
“Jon was not able to confirm positively that the pipe is indeed of Savinelli make (second or otherwise), however, he did point out that Pipe Pub did have an excellent relationship with the Savinelli company, as they were allowed to carry and sell the rare Savinelli 0000 (Quadruple-ought) Autograph, of which only 3 have been produced in the last century. Jon also pointed out that he and another manager sold it to a gentleman who worked for the telephone company to complete a collection of Savinelli Autographs. (He went to the bank and took out a $5000 loan for it. The bank, initially thought he was purchasing ‘oil drilling pipe’, but gave him a personal loan for the tobacco pipe anyways. He kept it in a lock box for a while, then finally broke it out and smoked it for the first time during the 1986 or 1987 Superbowl.)”
The paucity of the number of 0000s produced (as mentioned in this quote) suggests this would be what we now call the Eccezionale.