Bazzanelli (Cachimbos Bazzanelli)

Bazzanelli, full name Cachimbos Bazzanelli, is a pipe workshop operating in the municipality of Timbó, in Brazil's Santa Catarina state. Given that pipe making in the country rests largely on one-person workshops, founder Mauro Marcos Bazzanella, with more than twenty years of continuous production, is considered one of Brazil's best-known native signatures.

A Choice of Wood

What sets the workshop apart is that it does not limit itself to briar, almost the sole material of the European tradition. The wood most often encountered in Bazzanelli bowls is imbuia, a dark, distinctly grained species from southern Brazil's forests. Native woods such as angico, walnut, and açoita-cavalo are also worked with; briar, meanwhile, is imported. This range places the workshop among the select signatures producing pipes from woods other than briar. Durability, heat resistance, and not interfering with the taste of the smoke are given as the reasons for preferring native woods.

Acrylic is generally used for the stems. In terms of stem materials, this choice is consistent for a workshop seeking resistance to surface discoloration in a humid climate. A significant share of the models are made with a 9 mm filter bore; this measurement shows that European convention has taken root in the Brazilian market, and it means the workshop keeps to the continental European standard when it comes to pipe filters.