Italian Estates: Castello Old America 2023 Old Antiquari Bent Egg (10.24) 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 personal shaping approach to pipes helped cultivate the bowl-centric and whimsical Italian neoclassic aesthetic. In 2020, Castello started the Old America series, honoring the American audience of the Italian workshop's pipes by choosing a shape from their legendary shape chart and dressing them in a wide variety of finishes. Each pipe in the series also features a diamond-like inlay on the stem base, a callback to how Castello used to distinguish pipes made for U.S. distribution with a similar inlay, offering a retro look that old-school Castello fans are sure to appreciate.

Castello's 2023 limited-edition Old America pipe is their famous bent Egg shape, which corresponds to the "93" on their old shape chart. This bent Egg, numbered 10 in the 24 pipe series, is a gargantuan briar, its palm-filling bowl feeling extra robust in hand due to the pipe's weight of over half a pound. The bulging fore and pronounced heel form a curvaceous arc that extends onto the underside of the well-bent shank, which rises nearly upright out of the expansive transition. Furthermore, the shank end is fitted with a military mount, which is fashioned from the same navy-blue acrylic as the stem, offering an understated flourish of color. Additionally, this pipe features Castello's Old Antiquari finish, dressing the stummel in a rugged, earthy sandblast for a rustic appeal.