Gigliucci Pipes

Andrea Gigliucci has always been immersed in the arts. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna where he studied painting. After graduating, Andrea opened a small cabinet and furniture restoration shop in Caldana in Maremma, just south of Tuscany.

In 2004 Andrea began taking up pipe smoking as a hobby, experimenting with Virginia flakes and light English blends. Once his love of the pipe was secure, it was only a matter of time before Andrea began carving. All the necessary prerequisites were in place: a love for the arts, experience in woodworking, an abundance of briar (indigenous to his area of Italy), and geographic proximity to some of Italy's best pipe makers. 

In 2011, Andrea began carving pipes with Foundation and Musico, the brand created by Paolo Becker and marketed by the Musico pipe shop in Rome. There he learned the fundamentals  of making excellent pipes, drawing inspiration from English and Danish classics, especially brands and makers like Dunhill, Paolo Becker, Pipe Dan, Poul Ilsted, and Gert Holbeck. 

Andrea now makes pipes under his own name and produces 100 - 150 pipes annually. Andrea sources his briar from the two mills in his area personally, picking only the best blocks available. Once selected, the briar cures for several years before Andrea carves them. While he does use a variety of accent materials, bamboo, boxwood, horn, Andrea prefers the simplicity of good briar and premium German ebonite. 

Gigliuicci pipes are graded with letters from the Etruscan alphabet, a different letter for each type of finish. The more letters the better the specimen or more complex the design.