Ascorti New Dear Wax Drip Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.

The New Dear is Ascorti’s (following Caminetto’s) interpretation of the distinctly Italian “wax drip” finish. Here, the stummel is painstakingly hand-carved to mimic the look of wax spilling over the side of a burning candle. The Ascortis honed this finish when they worked at Caminetto and then continued to develop it in the pipes bearing their own name. The history of such finishes, however, stretches back far beyond the Italian workshop movement, to the earliest “high-grade” briar pipes, particularly in France, which were intricately and figuratively carved. I’ve always found pipes such as this one to be a worthy continuation of that subtle tradition.

The condition is very good. Some rim darkening and minor finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 5.5″ / 139.7mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.5″ / 38.10mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 42g