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The shank carries a single name: Silvano Azzorro. No further history rides with that stamp, so this pipe has to speak through its own geometry, its briar, and the wear it has already taken on.
Silvano Azzorro bent billiard, smooth black finish, acrylic saddle stem with a 9mm filter chamber and a fishtail bit. Pre-smoked, in what the consignor describes as good estate condition.
Bowl: briar
Stem: acrylic
Mouthpiece: fishtail
Filter: 9mm
Stamped: \"Silvano Azzorro\"
THE MARKS
- \"Silvano Azzorro\" stamped on the shank
That is the only mark this pipe carries, and it is quoted here exactly as read. No country stamp, no shape number, no grade dot rides alongside it, so none is claimed.
A billiard is the reference point every other bowl shape gets measured against: a round, slightly tapered chamber sitting on a cylindrical shank, the whole profile clean enough that nothing distracts from the grain. Bend it, as this one is bent, and the geometry changes in a way that matters more than it looks - the draw hole has to be bored on a curve instead of a straight line, and the bowl tilts back toward the smoker rather than standing upright. A bent billiard sits differently in the hand and in a rack than a straight one; it is built to be held at a lower angle and clenched more easily in the teeth, since the weight of the bowl falls closer to the jaw rather than out in front of it.
The saddle stem is the other half of that same decision. Where a tapered stem narrows gradually from shank to bit, a saddle stem keeps a squared shoulder at the shank join and steps down to the bit in a distinct shelf. It is a mechanically simpler fit than a taper, and it reads visually as a harder line where the taper reads as a continuous curve - a small detail, but it is one of the first things a collector\'s eye checks when placing a pipe\'s era or maker family. Acrylic, as used here, holds a harder, more polished surface than vulcanite and does not oxidize into the yellow-green cast vulcanite takes on with age and UV exposure; it is more brittle under a hard knock but far more stable in a drawer over decades.
The fishtail bit - a slot that widens and flattens at the very tip rather than staying a simple round bore - is meant to spread the smoke across a wider, thinner column at the point it hits the tongue, and most smokers find it a cooler, gentler draw than a round aperture of the same size. Paired with a 9mm filter chamber, the stem is built to take a standard 9mm balsa or charcoal filter, which pulls moisture out of the airway before it reaches the mouth; without a filter fitted, the bore simply runs open, and the pipe smokes as an unfiltered billiard would.
A chamber 20mm across and 42mm deep, in a bowl standing 50mm tall and 43mm wide, holds a reasonably generous charge of tobacco for a pipe of this size - closer to a medium-to-long smoke than a quick one. Overall length is 140mm, and at 47 grams this sits on the lighter side for a pipe this size, comfortable for extended clenching.
Condition: pre-smoked, described by the consignor as good. The stain shows a faint scratch around the briar. There is a separate physical scratch on the shank, visible in the photographs. No crack, chip, fill, or repair is noted or reported on this pipe.
THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 140mm - bowl height 50mm - bowl width 43mm - chamber diameter 20mm - chamber depth 42mm - weight 47g
Finish and grain: see the photographs.
Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.
SKU: 448
