Italian Estates: Castello Collection Occhio di Pernice Billiard (K) (2019) 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 Billiard is a sleek and slender pipe, though one that boasts an impressive substance about its Stack-like bowl. Said bowl rises to more than two inches tall and stands atop a pronounced, slightly extended heel, its walls rising to a flat rim in cylindrical fashion and holding a capacious chamber. A wide transition pairs this bowl to a slim, short, tapering shank met by a domed military mount of black acrylic and its matching tapered stem. This shank and stem focus the vast majority of the visual weight on the bowl, keeping attention locked on the stummel's Collection series finish: revealing vast fields of birdseye across both flanks of the bowl and earning this pipe the Occhio di Pernice designation thanks to its quality.

-John McElheny