Velani Octagon

The last, but not the least, of the batch of Velanis that I purchased together by mail-order several years ago. I got these back when I was still occasionally smoking a couple of aromatics, and for a while I used this one only for such tobaccos. It has long since been salt-treated to remove any candyish flavors and converted to smoking natural blends. Some glaring fills are visible beneath the finish, but it will smokes quite well and is often used for Perique blends, like most of my primary rotation.

It's called an "Octagon" because the shank is octagonal, although the corners are rounded so it isn't obvious. I don't know what to call the shape of this bowl.

Velani #67 bent Dublin

Another of the group of Velanis that I purchased all at once. This one is a nice big Dublin with very thick bowl walls. I've smoked just about everything in it and it's one of my favorite pipes.

I've been sick this week, with one of those colds that goes straight for my sinuses, so I've been forsaking the briar for the past few days. Here's hoping I'm over it by the weekend. Writing up a long, thoughtful post about pipe smoking is no fun without a pipe to smoke.

Velani #69 bent acorn

Working my way through the Velanis, here's a bent with what I call an acorn-shaped bowl. As with the others, this pipe is one of the five that I purchased at the same time. One of the others, as well as the Canadian that I sold, have this same kind of transparent lucite stem. I think it looks really sharp.

I've always smoked a variety of natural blends (non-aromatic) in this pipe. It's one of my most frequently-used pipes and is part of my regular rotation.

Velani Fumata #75 bent billiard

Back in those early years, my collection was still quite small and I desperately needed a larger rotation. Word spread on alt.smokers.pipes that the Aldo Velani company of Italy was having some kind of "clearance" sale on pipes. I remember there being some controversy about this, but I don't remember any details. All I knew at the time was: good pipes, cheap. I ordered five pipes for about $65. One of them, a Canadian, I later sold because I was smoking it so rarely. The other four are bents of various styles and I still have them. They are all still part of my regular rotation.

The above pipe was one of the most frequently smoked. I used it so often that I wore off some of the finish. It doesn't look like that anymore. Before I use it again, I will have to perform a complete refurbishing. Also, I managed to break the tenon, so this is another pipe that I will need to send away for stem repair. I doubt that I will be able to accurately reproduce the shaded, two-tone finish, but I'm sure it will look just as well with a single color stain. Before I begin work on it, I will post a current photo so I can document my "before" and "after."

Since my favorite smokes tend to be quite robust and heavy in Perique, this pipe is used for robust Perique blends, and will remain part of my permanent collection.