Radice Rind G Rusticated Dublin w/ Faux Bamboo Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Radice is one of the great Italian workshop pipe makes, belonging to a historic lineage of such workshops. The company began as a family affair, being established in 1980 by Luigi Radice, along with his son, Gianluca, and father, Paolo. But Radice’s pipe making “family” is a little larger than that. Prior to founding Radice, Luigi ran Caminetto, which he had founded with Guiseppe Ascorti in 1968. Prior to Caminetto, Radice had worked alongside Ascorti in the Castello factory, under the supervision of its owner, Carlo Scotti. It’s quite an impressive genealogy, which is clearly reflected in the quality of Radice pipes.

The “Rind” is Radice’s take on the veritable Italian institution that is the high-grade rusticated pipe. Given that Luigi Radice began his career at Castello, which presumably included working on the make’s famous “Sea Rock” finishes, and given that the Caminetto make he founded with Guiseppe Ascorti included its own stony rusticated finish, the Business, it is only natural that Radice pipes would carry that torch in one way or another. Quite interesting, however, is that the Rind is very different from both the Castello Sea Rock (both in its original, rougher guises and the more granular approach taken in later decades) and the Caminetto Business (which was originally close to the early Castello Sea Rock in texture). As the name seems to indicate, the “Rind” is a finer, lighter hand-worked relief, somewhat akin to citrus peel in look and feel, especially when dressed in the “fumed” black and orange dress seen on this one.

Something altogether different from the designs of either Castello or Caminetto can also be seen on this particular Radice, that being its curiously carved shank. While bamboo has been used since at least the post-war years on pipes (such as those of Dunhill or Stanwell) as a means of extending shanks and saving on briar, Radice pipes will sometimes feature faux-bamboo carvings on their own shanks. It adds an interesting, novel element to the design as a whole, evoking the extensions of other makes while retaining all of the structural stability of the one-piece stummel that is actually is.

The condition is great. Some possible rim darkening and slight handling marks, but with the fumed finish it’s hard to tell either way. This pipe comes with its original box and sleeve.

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.88 / 22.35mm

Bowl Depth: 1.76″ / 44.70mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 48g