Castello: Collection Pot (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. A lightweight and lean pipe from the Italian workshop, this straight Pot measures in at just over five and a half inches long and boasts a convenient, travel-friendly stature that's perfect for hands-free smoking. A wide transition leaves plenty of room to drape a thumb and starts the gradual taper of the shank, which is met by a black acrylic ferrule that acts as a military mount for the matching, tapering stem. The bowl sits atop a rounded, pronounced heel, though not so much as the Italian workshop's iconic "55" shape, and the walls that grow out of it take on their own gentle taper to the rim. Though its dimensions are reserved, the stummel here has plenty of room to showcase handsome grain, all beneath the warm, honeyed stain of the Collection finish.