Savinelli Saint Nicholas 2021, Shape 315 KS (6mm) — Italy, 2021

This record documents a Savinelli pipe from the Saint Nicholas 2021 series, carried as shape 315 KS and fitted for the 6mm filter system, produced in Italy. The house is particularly associated with its proprietary 6mm balsa filter system, in which a triangular balsa-wood insert seats in the mortise to absorb moisture; the 6mm designation recorded here places this example within that filtered configuration, and such pipes may also be smoked with the insert removed. The Saint Nicholas line belongs to Savinelli's tradition of annual seasonal series, issued each year around the winter holidays with a distinct finish and a dated identity, which makes the line name itself the primary dating instrument for the piece. The shape number 315 identifies the form within Savinelli's long-standing numbered shape chart, a system the firm has used across its ranges for decades, while the KS suffix denotes King Size, Savinelli's designation for an enlarged rendering of the base shape. Dating rests on the series year embedded in the line name: unlike marques that require decoding of stamping styles or hallmarks, an annual series such as Saint Nicholas announces its production year directly, and the 2021 designation therefore fixes this pipe to that year with unusual precision for a factory pipe. The example is preserved in the archive as a reference point for Savinelli's twenty-first-century annual series production, for the 315 KS shape within the company's numbering system, and for the firm's characteristic 6mm balsa-filtered construction.