Time Magazine Names Angela Merkel The 2015 Person Of The Year, SoCal Pipester Names Savinelli The 2015 Pipe And Tobacco Company Of The Year!

In what has shaped to be another controversial decision by Time magazine in its ‘Person of the Year’ selection, Time states that it chose German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be their 2015 Person of the Year because of her leadership on a range of issues, from the Greek debt crisis to Syrian refugees. Agree with Time or not, one characteristic of Chancellor Merkel is that she holds to her ideals while seeking pragmatic solutions to the many challenges facing Germany and the EU. For similar reasons, and in what could prove to be as controversial a decision, SoCal Pipester has chosen the esteemed Italian pipe maker, Savinelli, as his inaugural Pipe and Tobacco Company of the Year for 2015.

Nearly every pipe smoker’s collection of pipes includes at least one Savinelli. The company is most noted for the fine fit and finish and great smoking quality of their pipes, as well as a famous hand rustication, across a range of models and price points, many of which also feature the 6mm balsa filter. Savinelli also offers an improving selection of premium pipe tobaccos.

What tips the scale in Savinelli’s favor this year is, firstly, their introduction of new pipe lines like the Cashmere (which I like in the ‘315’) with its rusticated natural tone and the 88 (which might technically be 2014, but who’s counting?), pictured below. The 88 features a flattened heal to allow the smoker to securely set it down. Pipesters seem to be most attracted to one of the new shapes, the ‘311KS’, in the rusticated Cherrywood Poker at the moment, though I think shape ‘188’, a 1/4 bent billiard, is a fine example.  If not yet available, as of this writing, at your favorite retailer, they should be soon.