Paronelli Rusticated Bent Billiard w/ Fossilized Oak Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Paronelli is an Italian pipe company founded by Jean-Marie Alberto Paronelli in the 1940s, one that has remained within the Paronelli family ever since. Things have changed significantly, however, in the eight decades of Paronelli pipes thus far. Under Jean-Marie, Paronelli pipes were often sourced from outside artisans, most famously including Tommaso Spanu. This appears to have continued when the reins of Paronelli were passed to Jean-Marie’s son, Antonio Paronelli, notable for his more colorful design portfolio. After Alberto passed on the reins once more to his own son, Ariberto, Paronelli became much more of a conventional “artisan” make, with Ariberto crafting each Paronelli pipe by hand in his workshop.

This particular Paronelli is an example of Ariberto’s work. Rusticated in a distinctive (even for Italian pipes) manner evocative of fields of wheat, the pipe is accented with an even more distinctive ring of fossilized oak (morta) spliced into its shank. As the pipe wears a near-naked, natural finish, I wonder if it will color over time, as such pipes tend to do.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 5.3″ / 134.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 1.43″ / 36.32mm

Weight: 1.8oz / 52g