Machiavelli New York Smooth Bent Billiard Diamond-Shank Estate Pipe, 9mm Filter

The shank is cut on two faces at once: a diamond facet along the top, a rounded curve underneath. Most bent billiards get one shank treatment or the other. This one carries both.

Stamped MACHIAVELLI NEW YORK on the shank, this is a bent billiard in smooth briar, fitted with a black vulcanite saddle stem and a fishtail mouthpiece bored for a 9mm filter.

The billiard is the shape every other shape gets measured against: a round bowl set at roughly ninety degrees to a straight or, as here, bent shank, no forward rake, no flare. It is the shape a new smoker is handed to learn the hobby on and the shape an old one keeps coming back to, because there is nothing about its geometry that fights the tobacco. A bent billiard takes that same bowl and sweeps the shank and stem downward in a gentle curve, which brings the bit closer to the jaw and lets the pipe hang level in a clenched grip instead of pointing skyward. It is a shape built for holding in the teeth for long stretches, not for setting down between draws.

The diamond-faceted shank is a hand-cut detail. Instead of leaving the shank round, the maker planes flats into it, usually four, to form a shank that reads as a diamond in cross-section when viewed from above. Doing this on a bent pipe is harder than on a straight one, since the facets have to twist with the curve and still meet the stem cleanly at the joint. That the underside of this shank was left curved rather than faceted suggests the diamond treatment was applied selectively, to the faces most visible when the pipe sits bowl-up in a rack, rather than run uniformly around the whole shank.

The stem is a saddle, meaning it steps down in thickness at the shank join rather than tapering smoothly into it, a cut that reads as more angular in the hand and is common on pipes meant for a firm clench. Vulcanite is cured rubber, softer underfoot than acrylic, which is why it takes tooth wear more readily but also why it can be sanded and re-buffed to remove that wear, unlike acrylic, which chips instead of yielding. The bit is cut fishtail: flared and flattened at the tip rather than round, giving the lips a wider, flatter surface to hold and, on a filtered pipe, keeping the airway open across the full width of the flare rather than through a single round bore.

The 9mm filter bore accepts a standard balsa or charcoal filter cartridge seated in the shank, drawing moisture and some tar out of the smoke stream before it reaches the stem. It changes the draw more than the flavor: expect a slightly more restricted pull than an unfiltered pipe of the same bore, and plan to smoke it with or without the cartridge in place depending on preference, since the airway is cut to take either.

At 40mm across and 40mm deep, the chamber is a full-size one, on the larger side of standard billiard capacity, with enough depth to carry a long bowl of tobacco through to the bottom without relighting. The 20mm chamber diameter (the drilled bore itself) sits inside that 40mm outer bowl width, meaning the briar wall around the tobacco is substantial, which helps the bowl run cooler over a long smoke.

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

Condition: pre-smoked and in good condition. The seller notes very light over-sanding from repeated cleaning. No cracks, fills, or repairs are noted.

THE MARKS
- MACHIAVELLI NEW YORK stamped on the shank

THE MEASUREMENTS
Length 136mm (5.4") - Bowl height 45mm (1.8") - Bowl width 40mm (1.6") - Chamber diameter 20mm (0.8") - Chamber depth 40mm (1.6") - Weight 1.8 oz

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

SKU: 168