There is so much to talk about when it comes to Sasieni, but I will leave most of that for a YouTube video and give you just the essentials here.

Early Sasieni pipes are some of the rarest and most sought-after pipes in the collecting world, and for multiple good reasons.

Joel Sasieni apprenticed with Charatan’s before he was “stolen” by Alfred Dunhill, where he quickly rose to the position of factory manager. This didn’t last long, though, and in 1919 he started his own company, believing he could make pipes better than Dunhill.

His pipes became especially popular on the US market, where they turned into a bit of a status symbol — everyone wanted to be seen with those pale blue dots on the stem! As you might imagine, Dunhill didn’t like how closely Sasieni’s dot resembled the Dunhill White Spot, and a lawsuit followed, eventually leading Sasieni towards the iconic Four and Eight Dot logos. This makes the early One Dots some of the rarest Sasieni pipes out there.

You can see all the right early nomenclature here — the two COM stamps, one of them being the rugby-ball-shaped one. You don’t see the patent stamp, which could mean that this is either an extremely early example or that it was made for the European market.

Let me say a couple of words about the finish. Most people call it rusticated, but it is actually far from your typical rustication. Most companies placed their rusticated pipes at the bottom of the price list, but that wasn’t the case with Sasieni. This is a very intricate hand-carved finish designed to resemble natural briar grain patterns, and it was priced at the exact same level as the smooth pipes.

The chance of this specific pipe being hand carved by Joel himself is, in my opinion, extremely high. In those very early days I just can’t imagine this incredibly time-consuming and complicated process being handed over to just anyone.

Condition note: this pipe has barely been smoked — almost an A2 grade. There is a tiny mark on the bottom of the stem from a tooth-dent repair that didn’t turn out completely invisible, but the stem is extremely thin and elegant, so I DON’T want to sand it down and redo it, risking damage to an old authentic stem like this. There was never a hole in the stem, so this is purely cosmetic.

The pipes go through one final check before shipping, so if you notice any inconsistencies in the carnauba finish or smudges they will be taken care of before your pipe is shipped to you.