Italian Estates: Castello Collection Occhio di Pernice Poker (KK) (2015) 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 dynamically. 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 and has earned the "Occhio di Pernice" stamping, which designates it for the excellent birdseye that can be seen across both flanks of the stummel.