Castello 1990 Trademark G 66 Smooth Egg Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.’

Castello’s “G” designation is used for pipes that are a little larger than the workshop’s usual output, while also being quite manageable as far as proportions go. One side effect of this upsizing, however, is that these pipes will sometimes deviate from the same shapes in their usual production. The shape 66, for example, is Castello’s diamond shank bent billiard, whose closest analog (at least to my eyes) would be English freehand pipes, especially those of Charatan. This G-sized 66, on the other hand, being more broad and bulbous than its K-sized counterparts, finds itself more reminiscent of Danish freehand shapes, especially the egg renditions of Former, Anne Julie, or S. Bang. This Castello is also distinguished by the addition of a Lucite army mount, with its narrower stem making the bowl look even fuller by comparison. It’s a beautiful pipe, with lashings of flame grain and, based on the date stamp, it will have been made in 1990, just a few years before Castello founder Carlo Scotti sadly passed.

The condition is very good. Some darkening on the inner rim.

 

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.92 / 23.36mm

Bowl Depth: 1.66″ / 42.16mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g