Castello: 'Castello' Billiard (KKKK) 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 Billiard is a fine example of the talents of Castello's carvers, its muscular bowl housing a capacious chamber. The bowl is paired to an oval shank that tapers to a jet-black acrylic stem, which continues this taper, the slender aft section here placing further emphasis on the bowl. Though many of Castello's pipes are quite large, this particular piece is rather compact, keeping the weight low while still offering plenty of room to showcase the workshop's eponymous finish.