Spitfire by Lorenzo Rusticated Straight Billiard Estate Pipe with Acrylic Stem and 9mm Filter

"Spitfire by Lorenzo" - two names on one shank, and both of them mean something.

This is a rusticated straight billiard stamped Spitfire by Lorenzo, fitted with a metal band, an acrylic tapered stem, a fishtail mouthpiece, and a 9mm filter bore. It is an estate pipe, previously smoked, offered in good condition.

Spitfire is not a separate factory. Per the Faridunhill cabinet on Lorenzo, Spitfire was the budget sister brand run alongside Lorenzo's own line - the same shapes as the Lorenzo catalogue, built on 1:1 molds, mostly finished in 9mm bore and the smaller classic sizes, sold at a lower price point under its own name. The house behind both names traces back to Fratelli Lana, founded 1900 in Gallarate, the third maker to set up in the Varese pipe district after Rossi (1886) and Ceresa (1897). Milan merchants Tagliabue began working with Lana in 1922, and exports grew through the following years - by 1939 the firm employed 120 workers, turning out budget mass-market pipes, many stamped no more than "Genuine Bruyere." Tagliabue took the firm over outright in 1946, renaming it Manufattura di Pipe Tagliabue. Around 1950, Lorenzo Tagliabue took over management, studied the work coming out of Castello and Brebbia, and pushed the line upmarket with new house shapes. In 1969 the firm was renamed Lorenzo Pipes. The 1970s-80s built the reputation still traded on today: thick-walled bowls, flat sitting bottoms, silk-matte red and orange staining, big Oom Pauls, and putty fills applied without apology - a pipe with a following among students of the period. Spitfire rode alongside it as the everyday line. Lorenzo Tagliabue retired in 1983, after his daughter's death that year; the brand was briefly licensed to Comoy's of London before nearly disappearing, and Tagliabue died in 1987. Riccardo and Gabriella Aliverti bought the rights from the family in 1988 and resumed production; Riccardo had been Lorenzo's technical director since 1973, following his father Romolo, who had joined Lana as technical director in 1920. Production today splits between better Italian-made lines and cheaper lines made in Albania by Tomori.

The only stamp reported on this pipe is the shank marking itself: Spitfire by Lorenzo. No other hallmark, date code, or country stamp is noted.

The shape is a straight billiard: an upright round bowl on a straight shank, the standard profile a pipe rack is built around and the one every other shape gets measured against. Bowl height here runs 51.0mm over a 40.0mm bowl width, with a chamber 20.0mm across and 43.0mm deep - a full, generous smoking chamber for a billiard this size, giving a longer session than a shallower bowl of the same outside dimensions. The rustication is worked over the bowl surface rather than left smooth; rustication of this kind is cut into the wood to build a textured grip and, on lower-grade briar, to work around surface blemishes a smooth finish would expose. The acrylic stem is cut with a tapered profile and a fishtail slot at the bit - the fishtail opening spreads the draw across a wide slot at the button rather than a single round bore. A metal band sits at the shank-stem join.

Finish and grain: see the photographs.

Condition: this is a pre-smoked estate pipe, graded good by the seller. No cracks, chips, or repairs are reported.

THE MARKS
- Shank stamp: Spitfire by Lorenzo

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 152.0mm (6.0 in)
- Bowl height: 51.0mm
- Bowl width: 40.0mm
- Chamber diameter: 20.0mm
- Chamber depth: 43.0mm
- Weight: 52.0g

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

SKU: 429