Radice Rind Partially Rusticated Billiard w/ Faux Bamboo Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

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.

One of Radice’s signature design elements is the faux bamboo shank—i.e., a briar shank meticulously carved to resemble the bamboo extensions that were popularized in pipe design around the end of the Second World War (in archeology and cultural history this is sometimes called a skeuomorph, which is a nice, fancy word for when you want other people to think you’re intelligent). I’ve always found it pairs especially well with Radice’s signature Rind rustication, as it allows an even greater blending of smooth, sharp, and somewhere-in-between surfaces than even the most unusual of pipes, and as its Radice, the whole thing is perfectly cohesive.

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

Details:

Length: 5.9″ / 149.8mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.71″ / 43.43mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g