Savinelli Miele (Honey infused) Italian 6mm Filtered Briar Pipe 626

• Overall Length: 138mm
• Overall Height: 49mm
• Bowl Height: 43mm
• Bowl Diameter: 39mm
• Bore: 19mm
• Weight: 43g
• Unique Honey Collector Pipe Tamper
• Cloth Pipe Bag
• Gift Boxed

Savinelli Miele 626

There are themed pipes, and then there is the Savinelli Miele, where somebody clearly decided that if they were going to make a pipe about honey, they were going to see the matter through to the bitter – or rather sweet – end.

Miele means honey in Italian, and the 626 starts with one of Savinelli's most appealing traditional shapes: the Bent Apple. Its rounded bowl, softly curved heel and modest bend give it a wonderfully comfortable appearance, and at only 135mm long and around 39g, it is compact enough to make a very agreeable everyday pipe. Savinelli themselves regard the 626 as one of the most popular shapes on their chart.

The briar receives a smooth, glossy honey-coloured finish, and the pipe photographed here has some lovely grain running around that plump Apple bowl. It's an especially good match for this shape, as the warm golden stain emphasises the curves rather nicely.

Then Savinelli lets the bees loose.

The tapered acrylic stem is a mixture of gold, amber, cream and darker flecks, deliberately designed to suggest honey and the irregular pattern of a beehive. Two dark bands at the junction provide a handsome contrast between the stem and briar.

The honey theme goes further than appearance. Miele belongs to Savinelli's Flavour line, and the chamber is treated with nectar extract to give a lightly honeyed character during the breaking-in period. It is intended to sweeten those first bowls as the briar begins to season, rather than turn everything subsequently smoked in it into pudding.

The proportions are particularly good. Inside that rounded bowl is a 19mm-wide chamber, 36mm deep, giving considerably more tobacco capacity than the compact appearance might suggest. At just 39g, the 626 is also the lightest of the Miele models we've looked at so far.

Our version takes 6mm filters, including Savinelli's familiar balsa filters. UK listings for the 6mm 626 also confirm that it is supplied with filters, a pouch and the wonderfully daft wooden honey-dipper pipe companion pictured alongside ours.

And I use daft affectionately. I have spent long enough behind a tobacconist's counter to know that most pipe tools resemble either something from a dentist's surgery or an implement for repairing a small bicycle.

One shaped like a honey dipper is a considerable improvement.

Underneath the fun, though, the Miele 626 is a genuinely useful Italian briar: a proven Bent Apple, generous chamber, light 39g weight, 6mm filtration and the craftsmanship you'd expect from Savinelli.

The bees are merely a bonus.