Castello Collection Occho di Pernice Smooth Egg Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.

As with language in general, Italian-speaking pipe-makers use different words to designate the same things English-speaking ones do. One example would be fiammata, used for some Italian flame grain pipes (including Castello); another would be occho di pernice which, while literally translating to “eye of the patridge,” is used the same way we in the Anglophone world use “bird’s-eye.” In other words, it’s a designation for superior grain of the bird’s-eye variety, which Castello uses to distinguish Collection-grade pipes cut from exceptionally beautiful blocks of briar. This particular OdP is even more of a rarity, however, as you might have already gleaned from its peculiar shape. As far as I’m aware, this shape is not one in regular production, having instead been created as a unique design for a Lord of the Rings based series, based on descriptions of some of the pipes smoked in the book. These pipes were strictly limited edition and distributed exclusively by a sole retailer, with slight variations over the course of a few successive runs.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim darkening and slightly faded stamping.

Details:

Length: 5.8″ / 147.3mm

Bowl Width: 0.84 / 21.33mm

Bowl Depth: 1.71″ / 43.43mm

Weight: 2.5oz / 72g