Ascorti Business Large Rusticated Dublin with Briar Shank Extension (Estate)

Ascorti belongs to a historic lineage in Italian artisan pipe-making. Guiseppe “Peppino” Ascorti was first employed as a pipe-maker in the 1950s, in Carlo Scotti’s Castello workshop in Cantu. There he met Luigi Radice, and in the 1960s the two decided to leave Castello to create their own pipe making workshop, under the name “Caminetto.” At the end of the 1970s, Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice left Caminetto and once more decided to start new ventures. Luigi Radice founded the Radice pipe workshop, and Guiseppe’s son Roberto Ascorti, who had also worked in the Caminetto workshop since he was a child, decided to create a workshop under his own name. Roberto was joined not only by his father, but also many of the talented craftsmen who had formerly worked for Caminetto. In 1980, the Ascorti workshop was born.

The first dissolution of the Caminetto workshop, which occurred at the end of the 1970s, would ultimately give way to three new makes: Radice, Ascorti, and, later, a new Caminetto (four, if one counts Capitello). Of all of the makes that emerged after Caminetto’s initial demise, Ascorti would be the one to “carry the torch,” as it were, when it came to replicating the aesthetic of its predecessor. This included much of the nomenclature of Caminetto pipes, hence the Ascorti Business was not only very similar to the Caminetto Business, but carried the same name.

This particular Ascorti maintains the rugged finishing and brash shaping of the old Caminetto make, though it adds something I don’t think I ever saw utilized by the latter: a briar shank extension. In this instance it takes an already highly assertive, stacked, full-bent Dublin and gives it even more height, creating an interesting bridge between the classical churchwarden and the Italian workshop pipe.

The condition is good. Some rim darkening, finish fading, and slight handling marks

Details:

Length: 8″ / 203.2mm

Bowl Width: 1.09 / 27.68mm

Bowl Depth: 2.69″ / 68.32mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 76g