Brebbia Italy Brevettato Churchwarden - One-Piece Ebonite Vulcanite Estate Pipe, Meerschaum-Lined Bowl, 12.5in

Bowl, shank and stem are one continuous piece of ebonite. No tenon, no mortise, no joint anywhere along 317 millimetres of pipe. The bowl carries a meerschaum liner, and the shank carries two stamps: BREBBIA ITALY on the left side, BREVETTATO on the right.

THE MARKS
- BREBBIA ITALY - the maker's name and the country of manufacture, stamped on the left side of the shank.
- BREVETTATO - Italian for patented, stamped on the right side of the shank. It records that a patent was involved in this pipe. WHICH patent is not established, and this listing does not guess at one. Brebbia's one documented patent is the frangifumo smoke-breaker of 1977, a device with SEVERAL holes set in the bit; this bit has ONE round hole and a plain round mouthpiece, so the frangifumo is ruled out here. No catalogue shape or model number is stamped, so none is claimed, and no date is claimed either.

WHAT IT IS
At 12.5 inches this is a churchwarden - the long reading pipe, held away from the face, the smoke cooling down the length of the stem before it arrives. Almost every churchwarden ever made is a briar bowl with a separate vulcanite stem pushed into it. This one has no stem to push in. It is ebonite from the rim to the bit, so there is no joint to work loose, no tenon to wear, and no shank to crack around a mortise - the three faults that end most long pipes.

AND IT WEIGHS 34 GRAMS
On a churchwarden that number matters more than on any other pipe. The long stem works as a lever against the teeth, and a briar churchwarden of this length usually weighs two to three times as much.

THE MEERSCHAUM DOES THE HEAT WORK
Ebonite is hard rubber, cured with sulfur. It takes a deep black finish, and it scorches under a direct coal far sooner than briar does. The meerschaum liner set into this bowl takes that heat instead and spreads it, which is what makes an ebonite bowl workable at all. The liner ring is visible at the rim in the photographs.

CLEANING, ASKED AND ANSWERED
There is no joint to separate, so a long churchwarden pipe cleaner is passed from the bit through to the bowl in one run. Buyers of one-piece pipes ask this first, so it is answered here rather than left open.

CONDITION
Previously smoked, and said plainly. The ebonite reads warm brown along the shank under direct light - ordinary oxidation on hard rubber of this age, and it lifts. Fine surface scratches on the bowl, visible in the photographs. The meerschaum liner is intact and lightly darkened from use. No crack, no chip and no repair seen. Professional sanitation before it ships.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 317mm (12.5in) - bowl height 50mm (2.0in) - bowl diameter 26mm (1.0in) - chamber diameter 17mm (0.7in) - chamber depth 40mm (1.6in) - weight 34g - one round draught hole, round mouthpiece.

BREBBIA
Founded in 1947 at Bosco Grosso di Brebbia, in the province of Varese, by Enea Buzzi and Achille Savinelli. The two split in 1953: Savinelli built his own plant at Barasso and Buzzi kept the Brebbia factory. The single word Brebbia has been the brand since the logo changed in 1968.

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.