Castello: Collection Pot (Big Line) 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's Big Line series is quite the interesting one, as it comprises stummels made from briar that has been aged for 12 years, ensuring that the final burl is excellently cured by the time it is shaped. Also, it designates pipes that are really, really large, which this Pot certainly is. Weighing nearly a quarter of a pound, this piece presents with a remarkable thickness throughout its build, offering a robust and palm-filling presence in the hand. The transition here is wide, with ample room to drape a digit, and it gives way to a subtly tapering shank that's met by a slim saddle stem here rendered from violet-toned acrylic. Compared to the bowl, the shank and stem are sleek, with this bowl's walls standing atop a broad, rounded heel and rising high at the fore. These walls are nearly two and a half inches tall and make a slight bit of taper to the rim from around the middle of the bowl, with this rim expanding out to more than two inches wide. The walls are remarkably thick and insulate a capacious chamber with more than an inch in breadth and nearly two inches in depth, making this piece perfect as a desk pipe that's well-suited to lengthy smoking sessions. Dressed in the warm, rich stain of the Collection finish, this pipe showcases flame grain surrounding the bowl and running through the flanks of the shank.