Italian Estates: Castello Collection Fiammata Apple (K) (2022) 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 Apple is a robust piece and one that displays the Italian neoclassical style quite well, thanks to its charmingly rotund bowl. Said bowl is supple and rich with curvature throughout, its walls taking on an arcing taper to the rim as the entire build cants forward out of the wide transition. From out of the transition, the shank tapers swiftly into a black acrylic stem which continues the taper, emphasizing the bowl and its impressive heartiness. Dressed in the vibrant, honey-auburn stain of Castello's Collection finish, this Apple displays stunning flame grain all around, good enough to have earned it the Coveted Fiammata designation, reserved exclusively for pipes that showcase stellar flame and straight grain.