Caminetto (c.1968-95) Business 175 Rusticated Oom Paul 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.”

Caminetto’s early Business finish could reasonably be described as Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice’s re-imagining of the early Castello Sea Rock finishes. Both were a form of stony, weathered rustication that has since become a veritable institution across Italian pipe making, and both were decidedly rugged in application, ultimately transforming into a finer, more granular form in later decades. One might say the early Business was even more rugged than the early Castello Sea Rock, which paired especially well with the shapes that Ascorti and Radice favored. While still largely rooted in the Anglo-French tradition, Caminetto’s shapes tended towards the bold and the brash, with a deliberate emphasis on muscle and rough edges, such as in the case of its very unique “175” Oom Paul, seen here. As for dating, this Caminetto is, as indicated, a relatively early make, as evinced by its “bird in flight” stem logo. It will thus have been made some time between the end of the 1960s and the mid-1970s.

This pipe is completely unsmoked.

Details:

Length: 6.6″ / 167.6mm

Bowl Width: 0.82″ / 20.82mm

Bowl Depth: 1.93″/ 49.02mm

Weight: 2.6oz / 76g