Castello 2002 Collection Le Catene Apple w/ Silver Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Founded in 1947 by Carlo Scotti, Castello quickly became known for producing some of the finest smoking pipes in the world. Over the years, the people involved in making Castello pipes has changed – such as Luigi Radice and Sergio Ascorti, who developed their skills in the Cantu workshop before leaving to start Caminetto, or the handing of the reigns of the company to Francisco ‘Kino’ Coppo after Scotti’s passing – but the superlative quality of Castello pipes has not. It is not without reason that Castello is known as ‘the Italian Dunhill.’

For several years in the 2000s, instead of a Pipe of the Year, or something of that ilk, Castello had an annual, limited edition series of pipes under the name of Le Catene. “Le Catene” is Italian for “the chain,” with each pipe in the series being mounted with a painstakingly engraved silver collar in the form of a chain wrapped around the pipe’s shank. Each year featured a different shape and a different style of chain, as well as the opportunity to have that year’s model in the variety of finishes Castello offers (Sea Rock Briar, Old Antiquari, and so on). But you had to be quite lucky to get one, as Castello pipes are highly coveted and the Le Catene series was only produced in small batches. This 2002 iteration, for example, was one of only 250 made and is even rarer than most others in that 250 pipe batch, as it is also from Castello’s extra high-grade Collection line.

Even better, this pipe is completely unsmoked. It has a small scratch on the bottom of the bowl, but nothing at all major. It comes with its original box and sleeve, too.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.48″ / 37.59mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 66g