Ascorti Business Rusticated Rhodesian Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Ascorti belongs to a historic lineage in Italian artisan pipe-making. Guiseppe ‘Peppino’ Ascorti was first employed as a pipe-maker in the 1950s, in Carlo Scotti’s Castello workshop in Cantu. There he met Luigi Radice, and in the 1960s the two decided to leave Castello to create their own pipe-making workshop, under the name ‘Caminetto.’ At the end of the 1970s, Guiseppe Ascorti and Luigi Radice left Caminetto and once more decided to start new ventures. Luigi Radice founded the Radice pipe workshop, and Guiseppe’s son Roberto Ascorti, who had also worked in the Caminetto workshop since he was a child, decided to create a workshop under his own name. Roberto was joined not only by his father, but also many of the talented craftsmen who had formerly worked for Caminetto. In 1980, the Ascorti workshop was born.

Many Italian pipe makers have a form of pebble-dash rustication in their portfolio, but there are few who can claim the pedigree (in multiple senses) that Ascorti’s Business line. It is a finish that Ascorti inherited from Caminetto, and which Caminetto in turn likely inherited from Castello, mutating and evolving as craftsmen passed from workshop to workshop. For example, if we compare the Castello Sea Rock to the original Caminetto Business, we find that they are distinct, yes, but bear something of the same seed; if we compare the Caminetto Business to the Ascorti one that succeeded it, one finds a similar impression. This impression is even stronger when taking into account the iconic, asymmetrical saddle stem of Ascorti pipes, which began as a Caminetto signature.

 

Details:

Length: 5.7″ / 144.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.76 / 19.30mm

Bowl Depth: 1.62″ / 41.14mm

Weight: 1.6oz / 46g