Italian Handmade Wood and Leather Natural Plateau Stand for Three Pipes

This record documents not a pipe but one of its essential companions: an Italian handmade stand designed to hold three pipes, executed in wood and leather and incorporating natural plateau. The plateau — the rugged, craggy outer crust of the burl as it emerges from the earth — is a surface prized throughout pipe craft. Leather, the second stated material, is the traditional dressing for pipe furniture, protecting stems and bowls from abrasion where they rest. A pipe stand of this type performs a simple but important service in the rotation of a smoker's set: it cradles each pipe with the bowl supported and the stem elevated, allowing the to rest and dry between uses. A three-pipe configuration reflects the long-standing advice that a small rotation of pipes, each given time to recover, outlasts and outperforms a single pipe in constant service. The attribution to Italy is consistent with that country's deep association with and its working. Italy is both a principal source of Erica arborea burl — the Ligurian and broader Mediterranean harvests supplied workshops worldwide — and home to a celebrated tradition of pipe making and accessory craft, from the great Pesaro and Varese houses to countless independent artisans.