Radice Rind Partially Rusticated Bent Prince Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

Radice is one of the great Italian workshop pipe makes, belonging to a historic lineage of such workshops. The company began as a family affair, being established in 1980 by Luigi Radice, along with his son, Gianluca, and father, Paolo. But Radice’s pipe-making ‘family’ is a little larger than that. Prior to founding Radice, Luigi ran Caminetto, which he had founded with Guiseppe Ascorti in 1968. Prior to Caminetto, Radice had worked alongside Ascorti in the Castello factory, under the supervision of its owner, Carlo Scotti. It’s quite an impressive genealogy, which is clearly reflected in the quality of Radice pipes.

In other listings, I’ve talked about Radice’s rustication style and how it compares to, say, Castello or Savinelli. I speculated as to whether the ‘Rind’ nomenclature gestured at citrus peel (i.e., rind) as opposed to the stony symbolism of the Sea Rock Briar or Rock Grain lines. This Radice, however, appears more in keeping with the geological theme of the make’s compatriots. The pebble-dash approach here is deep and craggy, and covers the entire stummel save for its underside and rim (a nice touch). As a side note, the ’34’ on this Radice is not a shape code, but rather indicates the year of manufacture – 2014 (1980+34).

The condition is excellent. There is some minor inner rim darkening, but that’s all I see worth noting.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.35″ / 34.29mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g