I broke down and bought a Mario Grandi pipe from the futurepipes store on ebay. Mario Grandi is a line of pipes made in Rome, Italy. They are not your father’s pipes. The pipes are very artistic, focusing on larger shapes and modern takes on classic pipe designs instead of sticking to the “tried and true” shapes a lot of manufacturers rely on. You can see videos of the Mario Grandi showroom and their pipemaking on the futurepipes Youtube channel.

Here’s the pipe I ended up buying:

It’s massive! My entire pinkie fits in the tobacco chamber with room to spare. I can’t even fit my hand around the bowl all the way. The acrylic mouthpiece feels good on the mouth, but with the size it is not a clencher unless I really work on strengthening my mouth muscles. This is a beast of a pipe but very well made.

The grain is well defined, with flames on the side, shank, and front and bird’s eye grain on the back of the pipe. I see a single solitary pit on the rim, but other than that the construction is flawless.

See, even Starscream is no match for this pipe. I think this will be devoted to my favorite English blends as it will take quite a while to get through an entire bowl.