Viprati (La Pipa Di Viprati)

Viprati, in full "La Pipa di Viprati," is the handmade pipe brand the Italian master Luigi Viprati founded under his own name. Working out of a small workshop in the town of Pontoglio, in the province of Brescia in northern Italy, Viprati is remembered as a self-taught figure who never apprenticed at any factory. Over time the brand's name came to be associated both with fine-grained smooth pipes and with special series adorned with silverwork.

Founding and the Master's Path

The master's relationship with pipes dates to 1972, the year he did his military service: carving a briar burl that came into his hands into a pipe of his own became the start of a lifelong pursuit. For a long time he worked only for himself and those close to him; in the early 1980s this became his main profession. His starting to sign his products "La Pipa di Viprati" in 1984 is taken as the date the brand was born. By the master's own account, meeting Alberto Paronelli, one of the leading names of Italian pipe culture, in the same period, was decisive in clarifying his goal of making high-quality pipes.

The workshop never grew into a large manufactory. A significant part of Viprati's fame is attributed to his refusal to compromise the individuality of each piece for the sake of raising numbers; as he grew older he narrowed his production even further, concentrating on a limited number of pipes. Even so, his signature became known outside Italy as well, and his pipes entered the ranks of pieces sought after among international collector circles.