Thomas Cristiano Rusticated Apple Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

While originally born in Italy, Thomas Cristiano emigrated to the United States at the age of 16, quickly finding work in the S.M. Frank factory in Long Island. S.M. Frank is a historic American pipe-making company, and at this time Cristiano worked on Frank-owned makes such as Kaywoodie. Later, Cristiano departed to make his own pipes under the Thomas Cristiano name.

While the T. Cristiano brand made affordable, Italian factory briars, it also offered high-grade, handmade pipes under the “Signature” line, so-called because the pipes were stamped with Cristiano’s signature. This is an example of the latter and, while at first I thought the stem might be a replacement, after learning that L’Anatra made some of Cristiano’s high-grades once upon a time, now I’m not so sure. The logo itself is oddly reminiscent of a much older stem inlay used by L’Anatr—back when they used an egg, rather than a duck head. The pipe itself is a classic Italian, pebble-dash rusticated apple, and an extremely lightweight one at that.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening. As I can’t be sure about whether the stem is a replacement, I’m going to keep the price modest on this one.

 

Details:

Length: 5.3″ / 134.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.78 / 19.81mm

Bowl Depth: 0.86″ / 21.84mm

Weight: 1.1oz / 32g