L'Anatra from Pesaro, Italy: Hand-made by Massimo Palazzi and Andrea Pascucci

L'Anatra symbol	L'Anatra means "goose" in Italian, thus this nice little goose's head made from silver on their stems. When Clive emailed me having an excellent new brand of pipes to sell, symbolized as a little goose's head on the stem I was hesitating because I thought this protruding little head would easily become stuck in my pockets. Luckily I changed my mind and bought a l'Anatra.
Clive Humm added l'Anatra in his assortment of pipes in the late 2000 or early 2001. I was hesitating and did not make my decision immediately after Clive's announcement, so many of l'Anatras were already sold before I browsed again his site. Luckily there still was a certain sandblasted "sitter" still left for me to buy.

My newest l'Anatra, a smooth, three egg apple from July, 2002

This is the year pipe of SPK/FPC for 2002

The Finnish Pipe Club ("Suomalainen piippukerho") decided to get its fourth club
pipe from Pesaro. This time it was going to be from Massimo Palazzi and Andrea
Pascucci. These two Italian gentlemen create these wonderful L'Anatra pipes with
the little goose's head protruding from the stem.

Our club pipe for 2002 viewed from the other side

I happened to be the lucky winner for the only available pipe with three eggs.
The makers produced only one three eggs pipe, the rest being lighter and darker
one eggers. We had our annual summer meeting in July 12 during which we received our
personal pipes. I must say also the pipes with only one eggs were great, yet the
differences in grain straightness and symmetry were clear between three and one egg
pipes. All the members receiving their L'Anatra were satisfied and happy with their
brand new pipes.

First smoking experiences

I filled the bowl of this light-weight pipe only half with Dunhill Navy Rolls
It smoked wonderfully, very slowly with mellow tones and only a hint of briar taste
despite of the pure, white wood with no precarbonization. Until this moment I have
smoked three half bowls in this wonderful pipe and I believe it is almost broken in.
This goose is laying golden eggs!

My first l'Anatra, a sandblasted freeform Rhodesian

The chunky sandblasted l'Anatra sitter from the right	Clive writes:"L'anatra pipes are made in a small workshop in the grounds of Massimo Palazzi's home in Pesaro, Italy. I think they are exquisite - beautifully shaped, with a delicate style that is all their own. Massimo knows what he is doing - he had more than 20
years experience working for other famous pipemakers before he struck out on his own. Massimo and his partner, Andrea Pascucci, make stunning pipes - but that doesn't mean that they are expensive. One of my customers recently described them as five-star pipes at two-star prices." "I bought my first L'anatra in the Spring of 1999. I have to admit, it was the shape that seduced me - a Paneled Horn, which is rapidly becoming a trademark shape for L'anatra. It quickly became one of my favourite pipes, so having smoked it for a year, I decided that I should visit Massimo and see about offering some of his pipes to this website. I sold most of the first consignment before I had time to put them on this page. That says more about L'anatra pipes than I ever could."
The pipe with the duck's head from left	I like the sandblast in this pipe: there are nice crossings of vertical grain with the horizontal growth rings. The blast is not too shallow nor too deep, it is just perfect to my taste. This is not a small pipe as it weighs 61 g, but there is a lot of briar in it as uou can see looking the photo below.

There is lots of briar in this pipe!

First smoking experiences