Rovera Sandblast Billiard Pot Estate Pipe - Acrylic Saddle Stem, 9mm Filter, Fishtail

The shank carries a single stamp: ROVERA. That is the whole of what is written on this pipe, and it is what we print - no model name, no shape number, no country mark alongside it.

This is a sandblasted briar with a straight billiard pot bowl, an acrylic saddle stem, and a fishtail slot at the bit. The pipe takes a 9mm filter. It has been smoked previously and is offered in good condition.

Bowl: briar
Stem: acrylic
Mouthpiece: fishtail
Filter: 9mm
Stamped: "ROVERA"

The billiard is the reference shape against which nearly every other bowl in the rack is measured: a cylindrical chamber standing on a flat-bottomed bowl, joined to a straight shank at a right angle to the stem. A pot variant shortens that cylinder and widens it slightly, trading some of the billiard's height for a fuller, more compact bowl - the same tobacco capacity carried lower and closer to the hand. On this example the bowl stands 49mm tall against a 36mm outside width, with a 20mm chamber bored 41mm deep, which puts the wall thickness at roughly 8mm around the tobacco - enough briar to buffer heat through a long smoke without the exaggerated bulk of a full-sized pot.

Sandblasting cuts into the wood rather than onto it. Abrasive driven under pressure strips away the softer, faster-growing summer wood and leaves the harder winter grain standing in relief, so the surface a buyer's thumb finds is the tree's own ring structure rather than a stain applied over smooth wood. It is a finish that also does practical work: the raised texture forwards heat dissipation and improves grip, which is part of why bent and straight billiards alike still get sandblasted a full century after the technique first entered pipe making.

The saddle stem is cut with a step down in diameter from the shank face to the bit, as opposed to a tapered stem that narrows gradually along its whole length - a saddle sits slightly more upright in the hand and is, for many smokers, the more secure clench. The fishtail slot at the tip is a flared, two-pronged opening rather than a single round bore; it spreads the draw across a wider slit, which most smokers find gives an easier pull than a narrow single hole, at the cost of being slightly more work to clean thoroughly.

A 9mm filter chamber accepts a cellulose or charcoal cartridge sized to that bore. The filter sits between the tobacco and the stem's airway, and its function is limited to what a filter of this kind can do: it does not season the wood, and it does not date the pipe.

Condition: this pipe has been smoked and is described by the seller as being in good condition.

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

THE MARKS
- ROVERA, stamped on the shank

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 143.0mm (5.6 in)
- Bowl height: 49.0mm (1.9 in)
- Bowl width: 36.0mm (1.4 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20.0mm (0.8 in)
- Chamber depth: 41.0mm (1.6 in)
- Weight: 49.0g

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

SKU: 449