Italian Estates: Castello Old Antiquari Rhodesian (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. A handsome take on the Rhodesian, this profile is a good bit different compared to many other takes on the shape from the Italian workshop. A wide transition here gives way to a lifted, tapering shank that's met by a similarly tapering stem of demurely curved black acrylic, affording the pipe a gracile demeanor. Up front, the bowl stands atop a firm, rounded heel and grows flaring walls that rise toward a mid-set waist, marked by a firm ridgeline that additionally denotes the walls' taper to the rim. Stout and robust, the briar is dressed in a crisp sandblast and deep, earthy stain courtesy of the Old Antiquari series.