Castello Old Antiquari Bent Dublin (K) (Great Line) Tobacco Pipe

The traditional military-mount pipe, when done properly, should have sufficiently short a shank to allow the drafthole to be cleared with nothing but a matchstick. This is because the military mount originates from soldiers in the trenches of WWI repairing/reinforcing cracked shanks with spent brass, and they didn't have pipe-cleaners - those wouldn't come around until the 1920s. Clearly, this Castello Old Antiquari isn't the sort of pipe intended for rough field use, nor is it of old English or French shaping style, and yet nonetheless it does pass the traditional match-stick test. More relevant to most collectors, I'd imagine, is the the lofty bowl covered in layer after layer of ring grain.

- Eric N. Squires