Caminetto Ascorti Radice Era Excellence Extra Smooth Cup and Saucer Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Caminetto was, and is to this day, a decisive figure in the history of Italy’s pipe workshop tradition. After spending time developing their skills in the Castello workshop, Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice left to found their own venture, which they named, “Caminetto.” Here, Ascorti and Radice were able to create their own now-classic shapes and finishes, such as the rusticated “Business,” and the carved, wax-drip “New Dear.”

Among the pipes that have come out of the Caminetto workshop over the last half-century, there is one subset that has become a singular focus for collectors, perhaps more so than any other. That subset is early Caminetto pipes or, rather, the earliest Caminetto pipes. These pipes belong to what has come to be known as the “Ascorti Radice,” or “Ascorti/Radice” era, for reasons that will soon become apparent.

Caminetto was founded around 1968, beginning as a small workshop with Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice as its principal pipe makers. A third individual, Gianni Davoli, entered the picture shortly thereafter, acting as a distributor and sales representative for Ascorti and Radice’s pipes. These pipes were incredibly successful, leading to expansions of the workshop and, ultimately, a production model that didn’t suit either of its founders. While the workshop was by no means a factory in the traditional sense, the manufacturing of Caminetto pipes was standardized and compartmentalized, meaning Ascorti and Radice didn’t have the same control over the pipes they made as had been the case when they started. The stamping of the pipes is typically taken to be reflective of this, with the earliest Caminetto pipes bearing the names of Ascorti and Radice, and later pipes dropping this convention (even while the two were still an integral part of the workshop).

This one is a fascinating example of a Caminetto from that first era. It belongs to the high-end of Caminetto’s output, being an Excellence Extra grade, which itself was—or would later become—part of the Prestige series exclusive to Caminetto’s main US distributor, The Tinder Box. Even more interesting, however, is the shaping. I have seen Caminettos a little similar to this one before, though I could probably count them on one hand, and none were among the “standard” shapes made by Ascorti and Radice’s workshop. One might call it a “vase,” though, as a fan of English handmades, I can’t help but note similarities to Charatan freehands, specifically the Cup and Saucer designs created by Barry Jones. Then again, if calculus could be discovered independently by two individuals separated by continents, so too could a great pipe shape.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.96 / 24.38mm

Bowl Depth: 1.82″ / 46.22mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g