Claudio Cavicchi (CCCC) Smooth Dublin with Spalted Beechwood (Estate)

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 two “C”s, it must be very special indeed. At the upper end of this grading system, however, a pipe has to be extraordinary, even by Cavicchi’s standards.

This particular pipe is a four “C” grade piece, and it is indeed extraordinary, with superfine, “angel hair” straight grain lining its bowl, all of which culminates in an explosion of live plateau burl at the pipe’s rim. The pipe also features a striking accent cut from spalted beechwood, a material favored by woodworkers for its unique patterning, which arises as a consequence of certain mutations during a tree’s growth.

The condition is great. Some slight finish fading, perhaps, but the pipe does not appear to have been smoked much at all.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.87 / 22.09mm

Bowl Depth: 1.86″ / 47.24mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g