Ascorti Sabbia Di Oro Partially Sandblasted Dublin 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.

Roughly translating to “golden sand,” the Sabbia Di Oro is Ascorti’s current series of sandblasted pipes. Looking at this one, I’d say that Ascorti certainly earned the right to use that designation, as opposed to the more common Italian “sabbiata” terminology. It features a type of distinctly Italian sandblasting that I’ve discussed before in a few other listings, referring to it as a more subtle, almost “webbed” look, rather than the cavernous blasts of the old English makes. What’s interesting about this one is that the shape is closer to some of the Danish-American artisans than Ascorti’s compatriots, with a wide, slightly short, Dublin bowl and what looks to be a boxwood shank ring.

Having come to us via our trade-in program from an Italian high-grades collector, this Ascorti is completely unsmoked, with an original bowl coating from the Ascorti workshop,

 

Details:

Length: 5″ / 127.0mm

Bowl Width: 0.79 / 20.06mm

Bowl Depth: 1.36″ / 34.54mm

Weight: 1.4oz / 40g