Radice Underwood Twin Bore Wax Drip Billiard 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.

Radice’s Underwood, like so many great Italian finishes, has a long history to it. It is what we in the Anglophone world have come to refer to as a “wax drip” finish, so named because it is hand-carved to resemble the patterns of a candle that’s been burning seemingly since time immemorial. One finds similar motifs in early French briars, but in the Italian context, the origin is likely Castello. The Castello workshop, where Luigi Radice got his start, had, in its early years, a wax drip finish known as the Epoca. The Epoca was all but discontinued in the 1960s, but it found something of a new life in the New Dear, a similar (though not identical) finish created in the Caminetto workshop, which was founded by Radice and Guiseppe Ascorti after they left Castello. By 1980, Radice and Ascorti moved on once again, leaving Caminetto and founding their own workshops under their own name. Guiseppe Ascorti, now joined by his son Roberto, re-released the Caminetto wax drip finish as part of their Ascorti pipes, retaining the New Dear name. Luigi Radice, on the other hand, created a new approach to the wax drip finish, one distinct from the Castello, Caminetto, and Ascorti renditions. This he called the “Underwood.” This oval shank billiard is a very rustic example of a Radice Underwood, and also features something quite unique to Italian pipes: a twin bore stem. Radice pipes tend to be more diverse in the technical aspects of their construction, of which the “T/B,” or Twin Bore stem is but one example. On the other hand, Radice Twin Bores are far less common than their single-bore counterparts, making the former more of a rare treat to come across

The condition is very good. Minor rim darkening and chamber slightly over-reamed, though nothing major.

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.91 / 23.11mm

Bowl Depth: 1.70″ / 43.18mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g