Hilson Avanti 211 Bent Brandy Reddish Smooth Briar Vulcanite Stem Estate Pipe 9mm Filter

The shank is stamped Hilson Avanti 211, and that stamp is the whole of what we can quote. No maker history accompanies it, no dating evidence, no country mark. What is here is the pipe itself: a bent brandy in reddish smooth briar, fitted with a tapered vulcanite stem cut to a fishtail bit and bored for a 9mm filter.

Hilson Avanti is the name and model as stamped on the shank. Avanti 211 identifies the shape within that line; 211 is quoted exactly as it appears, with no further meaning read into it beyond that.

The brandy shape takes its name from the snifter glass it resembles: a rounded, fuller bowl set low on a short shank, carrying more volume at a given height than a standard billiard. Bent to this degree, the shank and stem sweep downward from the bowl in a single continuous line, so the pipe sits low in the hand and the bit reaches the mouth at an easy angle for clenching over a long smoke. Sibling shapes in the same bent family - the bent apple, the bent bulldog - share the rounded bowl profile but differ in shank cross-section and in how sharply the bend is cut; a brandy reads rounder and softer in silhouette than either of them.

A bend like this is put into briar and vulcanite the same way in both materials: the shank and stem are heated until pliable, bent to the desired curve, and held until they set. The airway has to survive the process without narrowing at the bend point, since a pinched draw at the bend is the most common flaw in a poorly executed bent pipe. A smooth finish, in turn, begins with a briar block sanded through successive grits before staining; a reddish stain of the kind on this pipe is typically an aniline dye, chosen because it lets whatever grain the block carries show through rather than covering it under an opaque pigment.

The stem is vulcanite, tapered rather than saddle-cut, and finished with a fishtail bit: the slot opens into two tines at the button instead of remaining a single oval bore. A fishtail spreads the airflow across a wider surface as the smoke nears the lips, which many smokers find cooler and less concentrated on the tongue than a single-slot bit of the same bore size. The 9mm bore running through the shank is one of the most common filter formats in European-made pipes of this kind - a system rather than a brand, since factories across several countries drilled to the same 9mm diameter so that a generic paper or charcoal element would fit. It can be smoked with a filter in place or with an empty adapter for a more open draw, depending on the smoker's preference.

THE MARKS
- Stamped "Hilson Avanti 211" on the shank

Finish and grain: reddish smooth stain, as stated in the listing; for the specific grain figure, see the photographs.

Condition: pre-smoked and in good condition overall. Faint scratches are present around the briar. A repair has been made at the bottom of the shank, corresponding to a bite mark at that point. No other damage is reported.

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 138mm (5.5") - bowl height 52mm (2.1") - chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - bowl width 42mm (1.7") - bowl depth 45mm (1.8") - weight 1.95 oz

Ships from the Faridunhill / Pipe Collectors Encyclopedia archive. Worldwide shipping and professional sanitation on every estate pipe.
SKU: 104