Valbruna Pipe — The Work of Simone Gaudenzi

The Name: Valbruna

Although the soul of the project is entirely artisanal and contemporary, the brand takes its name from an ancient echo: Valbruna, the lost city of the Adriatic.
A coastal legend, an old rumour of a town submerged by the force of sea and time.
It is not the heart of the project —that place belongs to Simone— but it offers a poetic frame, a tone, a context: the idea of something precious resurfacing from the depths.

A subtle nod to the myth, without claiming it.
An identity.
A name with resonance.

Simone Gaudenzi: An Artisan of Real Skill

Valbruna Pipe is the most personal expression of Italian pipemaker Simone Gaudenzi, an artisan with a solid and discreet career, shaped at the core of the Italian school and responsible —quietly but decisively— for some of the finest high-grade pipes produced in Italy in recent decades.

Simone began his journey in 1998, when he joined Ser Jacopo, one of Europe’s most influential creative centres. There he worked under the guidance of Giancarlo Guidi, a defining figure in modern Italian pipe-making.
From that environment he absorbed an absolute sense of balance, the importance of line, and a simple truth: a pipe must be beautiful, yes, but above all it must smoke well.

Throughout his career he remained connected to the professional environment of Arcadia, where his hands and his judgement shaped the high-end pieces of several brands: the upper lines of Ser Jacopo, the premium ranges of Anatra, and —most notably— Kristiansen, a brand conceived around his style and formal precision.

Those who know the craft recognise his signature:

• tense, precise curves,

• a clear reading of the classic Italian style inherited from the Pesaro school, updated and reinterpreted through Simone’s personal vision,

• absolute mastery of final shaping and fine sanding,

• balanced proportions that work equally well in hand and in mouth.

The Identity of Valbruna Pipe

When Simone decided to sign his own project, he did so with striking clarity:
Valbruna Pipe is not about quantity — it is about coherence.

Each piece is shaped by more than twenty years of experience, combining contemporary elegance with a deeply Italian sense of style.
He works with 5–6 year cured briar, selects blocks with an obsession for cleanliness, and carves each form with a precision distilled from his entire career, now filtered through a more sober, personal and mature character.

The result is a collection of pipes that are:

• visually clean,

• clearly Danish in reading yet unmistakably Italian in character,

• rigorously finished,

• designed for demanding smokers seeking stability, direct airflow and a noble behaviour from the very first light.

Official Valbruna Grading

Base Finishes

• Rusticated

• Sandblasted

• Semi-blasted / Rustic

• Blue smooth

• Brown smooth

• Light smooth

Grading (Selection Categories)

• 2 jellyfish

• 3 jellyfish

• 4 jellyfish

• Calypso

• Atlantis

Meaning of Each Category

• Jellyfish: indicate the grade of the briar, defined by grain purity, block cleanliness and the orientation of the grain within the piece (straight, uniform, well-organised).

• Calypso: special pipes, whether due to size, volume or unusual forms.

• Atlantis: flame-grain pipes, with particularly marked and visually prominent grain patterns.

In Summary

Valbruna Pipe represents the most personal stage of an artisan who has spent over two decades shaping —often from the shadows— the high-grade Italian pipe.
Simone Gaudenzi creates clean, balanced, serious pieces, crafted with technical rigour and a strong sense of design.
Valbruna provides the poetic context; the essence, the true signature, is Simone’s hand.