Greg Pease calls 'em "bruccianosos." I call 'em "nosewarmers." But no matter what you call 'em, I really do love these little pipes.

They say we're attracted to people and things that look like us. So I suppose it's no wonder that I like compact and chubby pipes. They may not be long, lean, graceful, or supple shapes, but when I crave that, I reach for a zulu – a shape that, in my eyes, epitomizes grace.

I've been collecting these pipes for awhile and I finally have acquired enough of them to feel like I've got a real collection of them, as opposed to a few samples. Of course, my little collection still just aspires to someday reach the Promethean status of Hunter Small's or Greg Pease's, but one step at a time....

I hope you enjoy them!

1. Apple - Adam Davidson

2. Poker - Scott Anderson

3. Chubby Billiard - Jack Howell

4. Chubby Billiard - Alex Florov

5. Chubby Zulu - Rad Davis

6. Bullcano - Will Purdy

7. Roma - John Crosby

8. MacDonald Bulldog - Adam Davidson

9. McCutcheon Billiard - Jody Davis

10. Chubby Prince - Jody Davis

very cool, i love the purdy bullcano..

They are all very nice. But that Apple by Adam Davidson is just breathtaking. The color! The ring grain sandblast set off by the silver ring. My my my!

Interesting little pipes!

I covet the little Adam's Apple. Having seen it in person, and held it in my own hands, I know how beautifully it just "fits." It's a remarkable pipe.

One of the things I like about these is that they're like Jack Russell Terriers; big dogs in little bodies. They don't behave like tiny pipes, despite their somewhat diminutive stature. It's what originally attracted me to the first Castello #10, and has kept me coming back for more. It was really fun to have all 12 of them in one little pistol case at the show. A whole collection you can fit in the glove box... (That IS where pistol cases go, isn't it?)

A nice collection, Neill. I'm happy to see windening interest in these little pipes. When I got my first #10, it had been sitting on Luca's page for months. I kept looking at it, wihtout ever paying attention to the size indications. It was just a beautiful, chubby billiard. When I finally decided to get it, and it arrived, I thought Luca had played a joke. "What the hell is this tiny thing?" Then, it's charms hit me. I was smitten, and began the quest for more. Castello, at the time, had made very few of them, and only a couple had ever sold in the US.

Once I'd searched the globe to get a few, and opened my big bazoo about how cool I thought they were, Castello started producing them in larger quantities, and they soon developed an alomst cult-like following, becoming quite popular.

So much for finding 'em cheap on ebay, or sitting for months on some friend's site at a bargain basement price...

Have I mentioned that I really love that Adam Davidson? I have? More than once? Sorry...

Oh, and you very nearly didn't get the Purdy. Will had sent it to me with some other stuff to shoot, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. When I told him I wanted it, it had been "spoken for." Damn that ZuluCollector guy...

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades.

How come so many short pipes are chubby? I mean I'm sensing some stereo typing here.