Ascorti New Dear Wax Drip Panel Shank Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

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.

Though figural motifs have been used in pipe carving for centuries, in the context of Italian workshop pipes, so-called “wax drip” finishes can be traced back to Castello and the “Epoca,” an early line that was removed from regular production in the 1960s. The Epoca was reborn, one might say, at Caminetto, under the direction of two former Castello craftsmen, Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice, whose own rendition was named the “New Dear.” After Caminetto disbanded in the 1970s (and prior to being restarted in the 1980s), Luigi Radice and Guiseppe Ascorti started their own workshops once again, this time separately. Each took the wax-drip motif and renewed it once more: Radice with his “Underwood”; and Ascorti with his own “New Dear.” The latter was not just more faithful in name to the old Caminetto version, but was arguably closest to it, adhering to the same rustic and naturalistic design approach for the new New Dear.

This pipe is completely unsmoked. Some of the Ascorti nomenclature appears to be missing, though the pipe is clearly identifiable. I’ve adjusted the price to reflect this in any case.

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.54″ / 39.11mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g