Castello Collection Smooth Freehand Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Founded in 1947 by Carlo Scotti, Castello quickly became known for producing some of the finest smoking pipes in the world. Over the years, the people involved in making Castello pipes has changed – such as Luigi Radice and Sergio Ascorti, who developed their skills in the Cantu workshop before leaving to start Caminetto, or the handing of the reigns of the company to Francisco ‘Kino’ Coppo after Scotti’s passing – but the superlative quality of Castello pipes has not. It is not without reason that Castello is known as ‘the Italian Dunhill.’

While all Castello pipes are handmade, almost all are made according to a shape chart used by the Castello workshop. After all, what good would the iconic shape 55 be if there was only one of them? Some pipes, such as the Great Line, exhibit a shaping closer to “freehand” pipes as is commonly understood, though even these tend to stick to a basic idea of what a Castello Great Line should look like. This pipe, on the other hand, is quite different, given that it was not only carved freehand, but is also highly freeform, with a closer affinity to certain tendencies in Danish and American handmades in the mid- to late 20th century (including a plateaux-tipped shank). While it is a Collection grade, I don’t note any subdivision of that grade (such as the lowercase, or indeed, uppercase “k” grading system common to Castellos since the 1960s), making me wonder whether this might be a very early example of a Collection-grade Castello.

The condition is fair. Some inner rim darkening, handling marks, and a few scratches around the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.93 / 23.62mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 2.4oz / 70g