Luciano Pipe of the Year 2011 Smooth Danish Apple Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Those who were around during the 2010s may remember Luciano pipes. They were the creation of Luca di Piazza, owner of the now seemingly defunct Italian retailer NeatPipes, and were very well received when they made their American debut. First produced in partnership with Radice, then by Italian artisan Davide Iafisco, and including some designs co-created with GL Pease, Luciano became a go-to for a high quality, reasonably priced, Italian pipe. By the end of the 2010s, however, Neat Pipes, and Luciano with it, had all but disappeared, with production presumed to have ceased.

During the relatively brief period in which the make was sold in the US, Luca di Piazza’s Luciano had a similarly brief run making an annual “Pipe of the Year.” The very first was this one, crafted in 2011, with an exceptionally limited production of just 100 pieces. It was referred to as a Danish apple, which is quite apparent from the shaping. It is quite reminiscent of someone like Peter Hedegaard, for example, or early Jens Tao Nielsen. Of course, being a modernized Danish apple, the pipe would be nothing without some kind of adornment, which for the 2011 Luciano Pipe of the Year was an oak ferrule, as far as I’m told.

This one, numbered 16 out of the 100 of its kind made, is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.86 / 21.84mm

Bowl Depth: 1.60″ / 40.64mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 56g