Lorenzetti 2007 Pipe Smoking World Cup Partially Sandblasted Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Lorenzetti is something of a lesser known name in Italian pipe-making, however it is no less historic than its more famous compatriots. The make was founded by Otello Lorenzetti, born in 1911, who first began to carve pipes under his own name in 1934, after having worked at the Catena Remigio pipe factory in Recanati. In the early days, Otello would carve his pipes in his house and distribute them to neighboring towns using a Vespa; over time, Lorenzetti’s manufacture was able to expand to include a factory and, by the 1960s, to export pipes internationally. Lorenzetti pipes also remained a staple in the Italian pipe world, with one of the make’s most famous smokers being president Sandro Pertini.

This is a rather special Lorenzetti. It is so special, in fact, that it is one of the few pipes to be featured in a Wikipedia article (this model, at least, rather than this exact pipe). The reason it’s on Wikipedia is that Lorenzetti supplied the pipes for the 2007 World Cup slow smoking competition, which, for that year, was held in St. Petersburg. One of the pipes from that competition was included in an article on that topic. For those who don’t know, a slow smoking competition is a contest to see who can smoke one bowl of tobacco for the longest period of time with no relights. It’s a way for die-hard pipe smokers to prove that they have an unparalleled technique—cadence, control etc.—to the point where they can sit down with a bowl, light it up, and keep it going for potentially hours uninterrupted. One of the most famous slow smoking champions, for example, is Claudio Cavicchi (the Italian pipe maker), whose personal best is over three hours. Back to this pipe, it’s clearly one made for a special occasion, with a crisp, partial sandblast and a specially engraved, sterling silver spigot mount. I don’t know if this one was given to participants or to winners, but either way, it’s quite out of the ordinary.

This pipe is also completely unsmoked. Make of that what you will.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.77 / 19.55mm

Bowl Depth: 1.58″ / 40.13mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g