Radice Clear Collect 1 Smooth Volcano 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.

Radice’s Collect series is comprised of the workshop’s most unique, high-grade pipes in each of its finishes, with prices reflecting that extraordinary status. This one, for example, is a Clear Collect, meaning it wears the make’s light, smooth polished finish (hence Clear), over a freehand volcano shape not found in its standard catalog (hence Collect). It is certainly an impressive pipe, with straight grain so tight and consistent that it almost looks as though the pipe is draped in strands of golden hair. The pipe is also quite large relative to other Racice pipes, with a particularly wide bowl that would be perfect for mixture or ribbon cuts, or for a flake cut that you want to spend several hours savoring. On a side note, from the nomenclature and lack of a date code stamp, this Radice looks to have been made between 1980 and 2009, after which Radice began using date codes as standard.

The condition is excellent. I don’t see anything that warrants highlighting, but please consult the photos for yourself in case I’ve missed anything.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 1.53″ / 38.86mm

Weight: 2.8oz / 82g