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COMMENT:
A necessary reminder before we start: This pipe is in the Fancy-3-ViP grade (by the way, "ViP" stands for "Vitaliano Posella" and not "Very Important Person"). "Fancy" is Posella's grade to refer to pipes with a unique and difficult shape, ranging from entry level (Fancy 1), though "Fancy 2", and to the top, which is "Fancy 3". The "ViP" addition is designed to grade that rare piece, in the "Fancy 3" grade, that comes in such an exceptionally unusual shape and/or size that it deserves to be set apart from the rest. In other words, and when it comes to unusual and complex shapes, this pipe is of the highest possible Posella grade.
I first saw this pipe back in December when I visited Posella in his workshop in Calabria. Of course, and as soon as I saw it, I picked it, stood in awe for a while, examined closely, expressed my admiration, and then I put it aside so that I could bring back home with me. Well, it turned out that it was wishful thinking on my part. Vitaliano said, with no hesitation, "Tarek, this piece is not for sale"! It turned out that he'd made it years before, and he was in love with the piece, and he knew that it would be rather unlikely to come up with a similar one. I argued for a while, but, with all those years of dealing with pipe makers, I can tell when they' re not ready to part with a pipe, and Vitaliano was way out of reach. During the following months, and every time we talked on the phone (quite often), I had to play the one card that I play well. I kept telling him that this piece deserves more than being locked in a drawer and that it needed to be shown to and admired by the world. After 5 months, he caved in, and this is where this story begins!
Contrary to my intentions up to a few seconds ago, I'd like to first write about the grain and then the shape. Lady and gentlemen, this piece here is what they call "360-degrees Bird's Eye". This rarest of terms is used to describe pipes the exhibit Bird's Eye, and nothing else, ALL AROUND the bowl, with traces of Straight Grain on the top and base of the pipe. While these pieces are very, very difficult to make in small to medium sizes, they are near impossible to produce in large sizes. This one here MAGNUM size. Let me give you the measurements:- Bowl diameter: 76mm (2.99") x 79mm (3.11")
- Bowl height: 40mm (1.58")
- Length of shank+extension: 80mm (3.15")
- Overall pipe length: 202mm (7.79")
As you can see, the bowl is slightly oval. The shank is quite short, measuring only about 10mm (0.39"), but Posella added a briarwood shank extension, which is 58mm (2.28") long. He visually separated the extension from the shank with a thin, black acrylic ring. The interesting fact is that he chose a piece of briar for the extension that exhibits Bird's Eye on the two side; however, and while the upper and lower sides of the shank show vertical lines (looking at it with the mouthpiece pointing to you), the extension shows horizontal lines. A piece in this large size, and particularly with this type of grain, would almost always shows a few sandpits underneath the bowl, and this pipe is no exception. I measured the thickness of the bowl base, and it gives me a little over 4mm (0.16"); so, the pipe should be quite safe to smoke and enjoy. Hey, it's guaranteed anyway!
While most people would consider adding this pipe to their collection, simply as a show piece, the pipe has been made to be smoked, and if you choose to buy it, display and smoke it, I'm confident that the pipe will provide the smoking quality that such a visually impressive pipe should provide. Add to this the fact the tobacco chamber is actually not that large, which makes the pipe a lot more smokeable than you would be first led to believe. As a matter of fact, I could compare the tobacco chamber size to that of a Dunhill Group 5. |
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