Castello Le Catene Old Antiquari 86/250 Sandblasted Apple Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Founded in 1947 by Carlo Scotti, Castello quickly became known for producing some of the finest smoking pipes in the world. Over the years, the people involved in making Castello pipes has changed – such as Luigi Radice and Sergio Ascorti, who developed their skills in the Cantu workshop before leaving to start Caminetto, or the handing of the reigns of the company to Francisco ‘Kino’ Coppo after Scotti’s passing – but the superlative quality of Castello pipes has not. It is not without reason that Castello is known as ‘the Italian Dunhill.’

Coming from the Italian word for “the chain,” Castello’s La Catene was a series of limited edition pipes in each of the workshop’s finishes, distinguished by sterling silver collars. These collars were painstakingly hand-worked to resemble, as one might expect, chains. Only 250 pipes were produced for each run, and each run featured a different shape from Castello’s catalog. This one, from 2003, looks to be the shape 23, dressed in Castello’s Old Antiquari sandblast. As far as I recall, La Catene debuted in 2003, making this pipe an example of the very first release.

The pipe also happens to be completely unsmoked, and comes with its original box and sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.75 / 19.05mm

Bowl Depth: 1.48″ / 37.59mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g