Vitale

My passion for woodworking started when I was just a child. I used to spend a lot of time in my grandfather's workshop, trying to create something from the pieces of wood he cut for me. My grandfather was a carpenter and then became a luthier and sculptor once he retired. I've always loved manual work and have experienced many different arts during my life, such as painting, playing music, and wood carving.

I discovered the world of smoking pipes in 2014 when a friend introduced me to it. A few months later, it became natural to start carving my first pipes, and I soon fell in love with this "work," which is actually more like a pleasant game for me. When I first saw the works of pipe makers like Victor Yashtylov, Kent Rasmussen, Tom Eltang, Eder Mathias, Gamboni, and many others, I realized that pipe making can be something more than just a craft. With creativity and skill, by designing and carving harmonious shapes that highlight the beauty of the briar, a pipe can become something very close to a piece of art. This made everything much more interesting to me.

My current production is about 80 pipes per year, all completely handmade with rasps, files, sandpaper, dremel, and a small lathe that I use for the pipe stems only, which I work from rods of ebonite. Most of them have a smooth finish, but I also make some sandblasted and a few rusticated pipes. I use the best quality briar (only plateaux and ebouchon extra extra quality) stored in my workshop for about 2 years before using it. Most of the briar I use comes from Tuscany or Calabria, while the stems are made with German ebonite.