1996 Schneiderwind Jahrespfeife Brebbia Pura Straight Billiard Silver Wind Cap Unsmoked

A shop in Aachen has been selling pipes since 1846. Once a year, they made their own.

From 1987, Pfeifen-Schneiderwind of Aachen ordered a small run of pipes each year carrying their own name - a Jahrespfeife, the pipe of the year. Not a catalogue order. You walked into that shop, and that year, this is what they had made. Stanwell one year. Bentley another.

For 1996 they went to Italy.

The shank is stamped BREBBIA, MADE IN ITALY, and PURA. Brebbia has been cutting briar at Bosco Grosso di Brebbia, in Varese, since 1947 - founded by Enea Buzzi with Achille Savinelli, and still run by the Buzzi family. Pura is not a model name. It is Brebbia's word for a block free of fills and visible imperfections, finished in carnauba wax alone: no putty, no dark stain hiding a flaw. What you see on this bowl is the wood, with nothing done to it but polish.

Then look at the silver - and this one has something most pipes never get.

A sterling band at the shank, hallmarked 925 and engraved AACHEN 1996. And a sterling silver WIND CAP over the rim: a lid, so the pipe can be carried lit and smoked outdoors in weather that would put an open bowl out. Wind caps are expensive to make and rarely specified. A shop orders one when the pipe is meant to be used, not shelved. A silver star sits on the stem as the mark.

It has never been smoked. No cake, no char under that cap, no tooth marks. Bare briar in the chamber.

A large straight billiard - the classic upright shape - with a fat tapered acrylic stem, fishtail mouthpiece, and a 9mm filter.

THE MARKS
- BREBBIA, MADE IN ITALY, PURA - maker, origin, and the flawless-briar grade
- Schneiderwind in script with W.O. SELECTION beneath - the Aachen house mark
- Sterling band: 925, engraved AACHEN 1996
- Sterling silver wind cap at the rim
- Silver star on the stem
- 9mm filter

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 154mm (6.2") - bowl height 51mm (2.0") - bowl width 40mm (1.6") - chamber depth 40mm (1.6") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - weight 2.1 oz

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

One year, a small number made, an Italian house at the top of its grade, and a silver lid most collectors will never own. Never lit.

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping.

SKU-19