Italian Estates: Castello Old Antiquari Dublin (KK) 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. Castello doesn't often craft straight Dublin renditions, with bent iterations being far more prevalent in their portfolio, making this pipe something of a rarity from the workshop. Remarkably compact at less than five inches long, this Dublin boasts a wide transition with plenty of room to drape a digit, its short shank pushing out in slender fashion to meet a black acrylic military mount. A tapering stem of matching black acrylic marries to the mount, affording the aft side of this pipe a remarkably lithe, gracile demeanor that shifts the visual weight up front while still retaining a balanced look. The bowl here stands atop a muscular heel and flares out gently, mainly at the fore, while the aft wall of the bowl stays rather straight: lending the bowl a dynamic forward urge. The stummel offers a fantastic surface for the dark stain and crisp sandblast of the Old Antiquari finish, offering handsome grain and ample texture.