Castello Collection 3K Smooth Diamond Shank Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

In the world of pipes, Italy is famous for its workshops—institutions that operate at a smaller scale to factories, but in which expert artisans work tirelessly to create pipes entirely by hand. Founded in 1947 by Carlo Scotti, Castello is one of the oldest and most renowned of these workshops, and Castello pipes are often spoken of as Italy’s answer to England’s famous Dunhill pipes. Known for its equally high-grade smooth, sandblasted, and rusticated finishes, Castello’s legacy is felt not only in the continued success of the make itself, but also in the various, similarly high-end workshops founded by former Castello craftsmen, such as Caminetto, Radice, and Ascorti.

Castello’s Collection line sits near the very top of the workshop’s smooth finishes. Aside from the rusticated Natural Vergin line, Collection pipes typically wear Castello’s simplest, lightest staining so as to showcase the superior grain patterns necessary to qualify for such an accolade. Needless to say, this diamond shank bent, brandyish billiard (a shape 66, if I’m not mistaken) made the cut and was inducted into the Collection line, with a secondary grade of three “k”s out of a possible four. With a plump bowl lavished by flame grain and a distinctive diamond shank, it’s not difficult to see why such pipes are compared to Dunhill—though that may well be under-selling it.

This pipe is completely unsmoked and comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.73″ / 43.94mm

Weight: 2.3oz / 68g