The Book of Changes states "Before every brilliant beginning, there must first be chaos". While chaos might be overstating the lack of focus of the Italian pipe industry, just post World War Two, Italy had little of interest to offer the pipe collecting world. For decades, the Italian pipe industry churned out hundreds of thousands perfectly serviceable but unremarkable smoking instruments. If a pipe man wanted to pull out a pipe that conveyed a sense of status, a brand with undeniable cache, he had to go to a pedigreed English pipe, such as Dunhill and Sasieni; a pipe from Italy simply wouldn't have come to mind. Then, in 1946, a man from Cantu, Italy began carving a pipe that would change all of that. That man's name is Carlo Scotti, and his pipe brand is called "Castello".

Carlo's choice for his company's name was an inspired one. He needed a name that had a cognate in many of the European languages (Castle, Castillo, Castelo (Portuguese)), and wanted that name to be evocative of pleasant fantasy. While the name did have a dream like quality, the start up of Castello, and the early years of the company were more akin to a nightmare. Early Castello pipes emulated the English classic shapes, if a man leaned toward that aesthetic, he already had plenty of established brand names to turn to. Carlo outfitted his pipes with Plexiglas, something unfamiliar to men who were quite comfortable with vulcanite. Compounding woes, early Castello pipes were quite small in size, usually carved or sandblasted, and were stamped in a bewildering, rapidly changing manner. Yes, Carlo did pick up a small local following. Some growth did occur via word of mouth. But that growth was too slow, too little, and by 1953, Castello was close to closing the doors.

Most fairytales introduce a character or an element that allows the protagonist to overcome peril. For Carlo, this character was Wally Frank, who accidentally bumped into Carlo on a pipe buying trip to Italy. Mr. Frank was smitten by the product and agreed immediately to start importation into the US. Upon hitting New York, Mr. Frank replaced the Castello white bar with a superb counter-point to the Dunhill “White Spot”, a “diamond” inlaid in the bit (actually crimped aluminum), and began to market the pipe to highly skeptical Americans with a wholly new angle. The pipe that the prospective buyer held was not churned out in a factory, but crafted start to finish by one man. The shapes were not created by a machine, but by the hands of a master. This was a very different, very special pipe. In short, Mr. Frank redefined in the minds of many an American what it took to give a pipe a pedigree. Combined with the sudden rise in awareness of chic, upper echelon Italian products (Gucci had just opened their first US boutique in NYC), this approach was a success. Castello took off and never looked back.

Many partnerships have rough patches and the Scotti/Frank team was to be no exception. At first the US received mostly lower end product, which irked Frank. In an era when there were no fax machines, emails, and a transatlantic correspondence took days, communication lags exacerbated tension. At one point Wally Frank was quite insistent that Carlo move to the US to produce his pipe. Carlo refused. Many a collector believes that Carlo’s refusal was the right move and best for Castello in the long run. Moving to the US would have changed the spirit of the pipe, and quite possibly prevented the famous Northern Italian styling that was yet to come. Indeed, had Carlo acquiesced to Mr. Frank, it might have derailed a splendid revolution.

Small conflicts do not stop great partnerships, Scotti and Frank worked out the product issue and, by the 1960’s, production had moved into high gear. Carlo hired the likes of Luigi “Gigi” Radice and Pepino Ascorti, who carved at full speed to meet demand. Within the synergy of the three legends, a new shaping aesthetic emerged. Emulations of the English standards were replaced by bold shapes with Italian inspiration. This, in turn, fueled American appetites for the pipes to the point that it was not uncommon for a Castello collector to be placed in a position of having to call tobacconists around the country to try to locate a pipe. Often a premium was negotiated for the product.

When demand consistently outstrips supply in a free market, something has to give, and in the early 1970’s Radice and Ascorti entered the market with the Caminetto pipe to immediate success. Caminetto did not decrease demand for the Castello pipe, quite the contrary, Caminetto owners still sought a Castello for comparison. Demand for the Castello pipe peaked in the very late 70’s. It took the continuity of the Caminetto pipe, along with the start up of the Ascorti and Radice pipes, late 1979 and 1982 respectively, to create a market in which a collector could walk into a smoke shop and have two or three Castellos to choose from.

In the early 80’s the managing of Castello was taken over by Carlo Scotti’s son-in-law, Franco “Kino” Coppo and his daughter Savina Scotti and, under their guidance, Castello hit a peak production of over 8,000 pipes a year by the end of the decade. Kino instituted some changes in the company’s marks and grading systems. The company began to use the letter “K” to denote the grain quality of a smooth pipe, and the size designation of a carved.

Today Castello averages about 6,000 pipes a year. Approximately 3,000 pipes will fall into the smooth Trademark, Castello, Perla Nera, and Collection. Roughly 600 pipes will receive the Old Antiquari stamp, and 2400 will be produced as Sea Rock, Old Sea Rock, Natural Vergin and Epoca. US production pipes have returned to the white bar, and Castello is still considered by many to remain the zenith of the handmade Italian pipe. Carlo Scotti has passed. But his vision is in Kino’s great hands, and his legacy is assured.