Lemonwood (Lemon Tree)

Lemonwood, in the pipe community, is the name given to the trunk wood of the lemon tree (Citrus limon). It's among the rarest woods used in pipe making. There's one workshop that can be said to work the material occasionally but with some continuity: the Spanu bench, set up by Tommaso Spanu in Laerru in 1979 and carried on in Sassari since 1999. No other maker is on record returning repeatedly to lemonwood.

Pipes from this workshop are distinguished by the LIMONE stamp struck into the side of the bowl — the Italian word for "lemon."

A Naming Mix-Up

In English, "lemonwood" is used for two entirely different trees, and this easily misleads anyone researching the material. In woodworking literature, lemonwood refers to Calycophyllum candidissimum, native to Central America and Cuba, preferred for bows, fishing rods, and turned work. The lemonwood referenced in pipes, though, is the actual lemon tree. The two woods happen to have a similar dry density, but their geography and trade routes are entirely separate. When "lemonwood" appears in a pipe's description, which one is meant can usually be worked out from where the maker is based.