Italian Estates: Castello Collection Bent Billiard (KK) 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 bent Billiard is an impressively curved take on the shape, being one of the most deeply bent takes on the shape we've seen from Castello. The transition is more than wide enough to drape a digit, and it gives way to a short shank that tapers as it curls up to meet a black acrylic military mount, paired to a tapering stem of the same material. A gently lifted heel supports a plump, Egg-like bowl possessed of a low-set waist that marks an arcing taper to the rim, its curves offering a comfortable feel in hand. The bowl gives plenty of space to showcase the warm, light stain of the Collection finish, revealing dense flame grain across the left flank.