Ascorti Business Rusticated Dublin Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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 one, for example, is strikingly similar to the classic Caminetto style, both in finish and form. Rendered as a large, stacked bent Dublin, it’s a dead ringer for the Caminetto shape “140,” right down to its asymmetric saddle mouthpiece, with the earthy, tan rustication of the Business finish furthering its sweetness as a “Caminetto by another name.”

The condition is very good. Some darkening and finish fading on the rim and slight scratches on the bowl and mouthpiece.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.98 / 24.89mm

Bowl Depth: 1.79″ / 45.46mm

Weight: 1.7oz / 50g