Savinelli Punto Oro 514 KS Smooth Bulldog Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

It is probably fair to say that Savinelli is Italy’s most famous pipe brand. Founded in Milan in 1876 by Achille Savinelli, the brand has continuously offered high quality pipes for nearly 150 years. Though various Savinelli lines have come and gone over the years, the brand has always been notable for putting out classically styled pipes with a distinctly Italian twist.

When Savinelli opened its Milan workshop in 1948, the first pipes made there carried the “Punto Oro,” or “gold point.” In a move that was likely inspired by Dunhill and Sasieni before them, Savinelli pipes thus featured a dot inlay on the top of the stem to distinguish them as high quality smoking instruments. Over the subsequent decades, and with the release of numerous new Savinelli lines, the Punto Oro (and with it the Giubileo D’Oro) became a designation for some of Savinelli’s highest grade pipes, with only around 1% of Savinelli’s entire output earning this qualification.

This Punto Oro, on the other hand, is an even rarer specimen, on account of its shape. The 514 KS long shank bulldog debuted in the early decades of Savinelli’s Milan factory, but it has been out of regular production since around the end of the 20th century. These days, it appears sporadically as part of Savinelli’s Legacy Stock line, which exclusively uses stummels turned decades ago and stored in its campus warehouses, or as part of the limited series Antica line, which follows the same approach. To see one of these in the wild once more is, therefore, a most pleasant surprise, especially a high-grade, Punto Oro rendition.

This pipe is completely unsmoked, too, with an original (slightly flaked) bowl coating.

Details:

Length: 6.0″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.65″ / 41.91mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g