Claudio Cavicchi CCCC Grade Smooth Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

In 1974, after growing impatient waiting for a pipe he’d ordered, Claudio Cavicchi decided he would simply make his own pipe instead. The former farmer from Bologna, Italy, spent the next 15 years making pipes, until his work took off and received widespread acclaim. Cavicchi’s pipe-making exploits have only become more renowned in the decades since. Today, Cavicchi’s pipes hold a firm place at the top of an extraordinarily competitive Italian high-grades scene, being as carefully and meticulously crafted as they are beautiful. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that Claudio himself is a world record holding slow smoking champion.

While all of Claudio Cavicchi’s pipes are high-grade, his highest-grade pipes are typically separated from the rest of his output using a “C” grading system. Aside from a few rare exceptions, the most exemplary Cavicchi pipes are dressed in a light, natural finish and awarded a grade that runs from one “C” to five “C”s, a number that increases relative to the consistency of the grain exhibited by the pipe’s briar. Thus, for a pipe to receive one “C” it must be quite special; to receive four “C”s, on the other hand, as this one did, it must be extraordinary, even by Cavicchi’s standards. And he does not disappoint; the grain on this “Italian Dublin” (as I have heard them called) is spectacular, with the bowl’s fanning form capturing innumerable, finely woven, “angel hair” striations as they make their way to the burl’s live edge.

The condition is very good. Some minor finish fading on the rim and chamber slightly over-reamed, though nothing I’d be concerned about.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.89 / 22.60mm

Bowl Depth: 1.81″ / 45.97mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g