Savinelli

Savinelli is the flagship of Italian pipe making. The story that began with the shop Achille Savinelli opened in 1876 in Milan, near the Duomo at Via Orefici 2, is regarded as one of the world's first stores devoted solely to pipes and tobacco products. The shop still operates at the same address today.

From Shop to Brand

Achille Sr. believed that briar's future would prevail at a time when clay and meerschaum still dominated the pipe market — and in Italy, moreover, where tobacco trading was a state monopoly. He had the models he designed himself made by workshops in the region of Varese, north of Milan. A number of these pipes were exhibited at the Esposizione Industriale Italiana in 1881, the forerunner of today's Milan Fair.

After the founder, the business passed in 1890 to his son Carlo, who ran the shop for more than fifty years. Under Carlo the shop became the main gathering place for Milan's pipe enthusiasts. Carlo's son Achille Savinelli Jr., born in 1918, spent his youth designing pipes in the small workshop at the back of the shop.

The Barasso Workshop

The Second World War interrupted Achille Jr.'s workshop training during his five years of military service. On his return he saw a contradiction in the fact that, although Italy exported some of the world's best briar, English and French brands dominated the pipe market. Rather than return to his father's shop, he decided to set up his own production.

Together with two close friends, Amleto Pomé and Mario Vettoruzzo, he began production in 1948 with a team of fifteen in Molina di Barasso, near Varese; the factory stands at the same site today. Although retailers were at first hesitant to place Italian pipes alongside established foreign brands, the brand gained international recognition within a short time. Management passed after Achille Jr. to his son Giancarlo Savinelli; Giancarlo, the great-grandson of the founder, is remembered for keeping the brand afloat with new lines during a period when pipe smoking was in decline.

The Balsa Filter System

Savinelli's signature is the 6 mm balsa filter system used in many of its models. The triangular-section balsa rod placed in the smoke channel is known for absorbing moisture and harshness thanks to its porous structure while not noticeably altering the tobacco's flavor. It contains no chemical additives and keeps the shank interior dry. With the included adaptor fitted, the pipe can also be smoked comfortably without a filter; this flexibility is one of the system's most-liked features. It is recommended that the filter be changed every few smokes and that a used filter not be left sitting in the pipe. For other approaches, see the pipe filters and systems entry.

Design Identity and Series

Rather than searching for an entirely new shape language, Achille Jr. took classic English molds and played with their proportions: a little extra visual weight is given to the bowl, while the shank and stem are kept correspondingly slim by contrast. The 207 smooth Apple and the 106 smooth billiard follow this classic line; the 315 Prince keeps the form's traditional silhouette with its long, elegant shank. The 320 KS Author, by contrast, is an example of the Italian neoclassical reading that shifts weight directly onto the bowl. The triangular-section "cobra" shank, rounded on its underside and seen on models such as the 677 KS, 123 and 673, is also among the brand's recognized signatures.

The product range extends from everyday lines to top tiers. Briar blocks are washed with a water-alcohol mixture and inspected under special lighting at two separate stages — before shaping and after turning; those with flawless grain are set aside for top lines such as Punto Oro and Giubileo d'Oro. Pieces that don't make the cut are not wasted either: records show bowls dropped from Autograph were used for the Estella line, and those dropped from Giubileo d'Oro for the Fiammata line. The brand has also produced numerous sub-brands and custom-order lines over the decades, such as Roma, Capri, Lollo and Hercules.

Alongside series production there is a small group of hand-shaped pipes. In the Autograph, Creativity and Mr. A. lines, the bowl is shaped first and drilled afterward — the method of the Danish-derived freehand tradition. For these pipes, larger plateau briar is set aside in place of the ebauchon blocks used in series production, which is why most Autographs are large in size. For sandblasting, a crystal abrasive has replaced actual sand.

The factory's staff numbers around thirty, and each master specializes in a single stage of production; besides his own work, he also checks the work of the master before him in the line. Alongside Peterson, Savinelli is among the established brands most often recommended to beginners: its broad model range, consistent quality and easy-to-maintain construction support this reputation.

Dating

No detailed dating chart has been published for Savinelli; the main criterion remaining is stamp style. Early pipes show the LA SAVINELLI stamp and four-digit model numbers; the order of the stamps and the drawing of the "S" crest have changed over time. The four-digit model numbers are noted as having been dropped, per records, sometime between the 1960s and the 1970s.