Blog by Steve Laug

I have never worked on or seen an Aldo Velani Italian made pipe before. I have read about them but never had one in my hands. This one came to me from my brother and it needed no clean up or refurbishing. This pipe was spotless and appeared to be unsmoked. I am always dubious when I get what appears to be an unsmoked pipe. I spent some time going over the internals of this pipe to check that out. It did not smell like tobacco or smoke. When I ran a pipe cleaner through the stem and shank it came out pristine. So I am fairly convinced that the pipe is unsmoked. The bowl has a dark neutral tasting bowl coating on the walls. The finish is clean and unblemished. There are no scars or damage to the finish on the bowl. It has a combination of cross grain on the top and underside of the bowl and shank and up the front and back of the bowl. There is also some great birdseye grain on the bowl sides. It is not a pipe that I will be keeping. If any of you who are reading this blog want to add it to your rack it can be yours for $60 + postage. The shape is great in the hand and it would be one I would keep if I did not have so many already.  The stamping on the bowl read Aldo Velani over Trio on the left side of the shank and Italy 56 on the underside. There is no stamping on the right side of the shank. The stem was a shiny black Lucite and there was a brass end cap/band on the shank. The band sat between the bowl and the shank. The stem had the stylized Aldo Velani stamp – a kind of AV that ran together. The pipe came with a thick velvet pipe sock with drawstrings.I took the pipe apart to make sure that it was clean and had no dust or debris from sitting in the bag and it was very clean. There is no smell of tobacco in shank or the stem. The stem has a well done funnel at the end of the tenon. The drilling in the shank is at the top of the shank but comes out at the bottom of the bowl and is centred. The draught on the pipe is open and easy. Once again if you are interested in adding this one to your collection email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. We can work out a deal. Thanks for looking.