Italian Estates: Castello Collection Smooth Poker (KKKK) Tobacco Pipe

Italian workshop Castello has a rich history that stretches back to 1947 with its founding by Carlo Scotti, being established as one of the first Italian brands to offer high-quality handmade pipes to the general public. In the 1960s, following the addition of Luigi Radice and Peppino Ascorti to their team of carvers, Castello's pipes began to take on a form that was quite different from the Anglo-French classics that they and others had been producing. The Italian neoclassical style which they had begun to develop led not only to a shaping renaissance within Italy, but the production of a number of now-iconic profiles. This Poker is a robust rendition of the shape, complete with a hearty, muscular bowl that rises to more than two inches tall. Said bowl sits atop a flattened, sure-sitting heel and takes on a cylindrical shape that cants forward subtly. A wide transition gives way to a trim, tapering shank that meets a sleek saddle stem of jet-black vulcanite. This pipe is dressed in the warm, honeyed hues of the Collection finish, which highlights a wealth of attractive grain throughout the stummel.