Cellini: Difference between revisions

Art Silber (also known as the “Art” of pipe smoking) made Cellini a full service Pipe and Tobacco Shop offering tobacco blends and a complete line of accessories as well as an extensive and varied line of pipes ranging from Indian Peace Pipes to porcelain, cherrywoods, meerschaums and hefty sculptured freehands. The Catalogues were nearly 100 pages long - including some cigars, but absolutely NO cigarettes! - primarily pipes and pipe-related products! Cellini Pipes have Good Collectible value of their own commanding good prices on auctions today, developing somewhat of a Cult Following among Collectors. Art was joined by his wife Ruth, daughter Bobbe (short for Barbara, also an established artist) and his 2 sons Stuart,and Elliot (who also worked as a physicist and an organic chemist).

Victory Pipe Craftsmen became the largest pipe repair shop in the country (probably in the world), repairing up to 2000 pipes per week for some 1200 pipe shops in the U.S., from replacing and customizing stems (mouthpieces) to Meerschaum and antique repair. Art Silber innovated many developments in the pipe industry. He invented a keyless 4-jaw chuck for nearly instant mounting of almost every shape mouthpiece. The result was finely crafted, custom-fitted complete stem replacement (including sanding with 3 grades of sandpaper, proprietary custom staining to match, bending if needed, and polishing on 2 different polishing wheels) in 8 1/2 minutes!! Cellini was famous for while-u-wait pipe repairs, which of course allowed the customer to browse the thousands of Cellini pipes on display. At their peak, they had 5000 of their own pipes on display.  

In the early 70's, Elliot's engineer friend from Argonne National Laboratory designed, invented and built the first 3-dimensional carving machine to shape pearlized acrylic (aka "lucite") pipe stems. This material cannot be molded and have traditionally been hand made from large sheets or rods of cast acrylic.

Although Cellini offered a very small variety of brands by other makers, their primary business was selling their own pipes made in their Chicago factory! Art Silber (also known as the "Art of pipe smoking"), who made pipes himself once upon a time, employed his own pipemakers (with "Primo Polidori", former factory supervisor of the Chicago Dr. Grabow/Linkman factory, being the most recognizable name). The company was Victory Pipe Craftsmen, (Victory Pipe Craftsmen Inc. was the actual corporate name for "Cellini of Chicago") The most important pipemaker there was '''Primo Polidori'''.  

Many early pipes made by the Victory Pipe Craftsmen bear Tracy Mincer’s Influence (??) - the widely known peculiar Custom-Bilt carvings. The Craftsmen also made unbelievably beautiful freehands in superior quality in virtually every shape and finish. If you can find an Old Cellini Freehand, you've discovered something special. These Pipes are One-of-a-Kind Pipes and were sometimes made-to-order for Chicago's High-Profile Clients. Many original creations were inspired by each member of the family as well as Primo. Custom made pipes were crafted for such notables as Bing Crosby and The usual stamping read "Cellini" (in script) + "ORIGINAL" (in capital block letters). Though many pipes were stamped only with the name "Cellini." The name was also coined on metal shank ferrules.

After the death of it's founder Art Silber, The Cellini Pipe Shop survived until the late 1980's, run by Art's oldest son Stuart, Bobbe and Elliot, ending a significant chapter in American pipemaking history. Art Silber's sons Stuart and Elliot are still liquidating the residue of the shop's inventory (Bobbe and their mother Ruth Silber have since passed on). All those interested should be aware that some of the Cellini Pipes seen on today's online auctions may be flawed or rejected pipes that were not offered for sale while the company was in operation. Be sure to Ask the seller to distinguish their pipes.

Art Silber is also credited with "inventing" the flavored (not just scented) pipe tobacco. Art's blending removed tongue bite through an understanding of a specific little-known ratio of ingredients in both the tobaccos and the flavorings. Art's son, Elliot, later codified the ratios within the formulas and the Cellini blends may be re-launched in 2014. Cellini tobaccos included more than 100 of their own brand blends. Excellent non-aromatics, plus many flavored blends including flavors such as: apple, cinnamon, coconut, bai-beri, lemon, lime, rum, apricot-rum, peach, watermelon, mango, vanilla, chocolate-vanilla, chocolate fudge, even chicken soup (if you had a cold). For one customer who had gained over 100 pounds, Cellini even custom blended 2 different tobaccos to remove tongue bite whether he was on his diet or off his diet.

Cellini is used by '''[[Brebbia]]''' mainly for one of a kind freehands. Calling Cellini a Brebbia second, as frequently heard, seems fairly inadequate.