Savinelli Saint Nicholas 2017, Shape 320 KS

This reference example is an Italian estate pipe from Savinelli's Saint Nicholas series, the 2017 edition, executed in the maker's shape 320 KS and fitted with a 6mm filter system. The pipe may equally be smoked without the insert, a flexibility Savinelli has long promoted. The Saint Nicholas line belongs to Savinelli's tradition of annual seasonal releases issued around the Christmas holiday, each year's edition carrying its own finish treatment and dated identity. Because the year is embedded in the edition itself, pipes from these series are self-dating in a way that most factory briars are not: the 2017 designation places this example's production firmly in that year, without recourse to the indirect stamping analysis required for undated lines. The shape designation 320 KS refers to one of the best-known entries in the Savinelli shape chart. The 320 is Savinelli's rendering of the author form — a full, rounded bowl on a stout shank — and the KS suffix in Savinelli nomenclature denotes a king-size, or enlarged, version of the base shape. The 320 KS has been produced across many Savinelli lines over the decades and is frequently cited as one of the house's most recognisable silhouettes. As an estate piece, the pipe has seen prior use, a fact recorded in the attribute checklist of this entry. Within the Faridunhill Pipe Encyclopedia it serves as a reference example of a dated Savinelli annual edition on a classic catalogue shape, illustrating how the firm's edition-year naming provides an unambiguous era bracket of 2017.