Italian Estates: Castello Leaf Carved Bent Apple (2020) (Unsmoked) Tobacco Pipe

Founded in 1947 by Carlo Scotti, Castello's commitment to handcrafting high-quality pipes helped elevate the reputation of Italian pipes to luxury status. Furthermore, Castello's approach to shaping helped cultivate the bowl-centric and whimsical Italian neoclassic aesthetic. This bent Apple is a unique piece from the brand, boasting an appreciable bit of substance about its compact form, as it measures in at under five inches long. The bowl here is robust, with ample curvature about its silhouette, though its walls are Pot-like in their breadth and nicely insulate a capacious chamber. A muscular, pronounced heel supports the bowl as its walls arc to a flat rim, and a wide transition pairs this bowl to a short, lifting shank. As it lifts and takes on a slight taper, this shank is met by a sleek and demurely downturned stem of similarly tapering black acrylic, poising this pipe for comfortable smoking and affording it a charming sinuousness. This particular pipe is especially unique, one-of-a-kind even, as it features a bespoke carving through the underside and lower walls of the bowl. This carving takes the form of wrapping leaves that curl up and over the transition while cradling the bowl, all while the rest of the stummel is dressed in a subtle rustication and warm, light stain.