Castello: Collection Bent Apple (KK) 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 bent Apple is a compact take on the shape from Castello, coming in at less than five inches long and boasting plenty of substance to appreciate. A wide transition here gives way to a sleekly tapering shank-and-stem combination, the stem's black acrylic taking on a demure downturn at the bit for a gracile posture. The understated slenderness of the aft side does well to balance the presence of the bowl, with said bowl standing sturdily atop a rounded heel and canting forward dynamically while growing thick, supple walls that lend comfort in the hand. Dressed in the warm, smoky stain of the Collection finish, the stummel showcases plenty of handsome grain all around.