Castello Sea Rock 3K 41 Pencil Shank Liverpool Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.’

The Castello workshop crafts pipes in a number of finishes, but if there’s one finish that has come to define to define the venerable Italian make, it’s the Sea Rock. It may well be Castello more than anyone else that has proven that rusticated pipes can be as high-grade as their smooth and sandblasted counterparts. Based on the uppercase “K” size grading, this Castello will have been made between the end of the 1960s and the early 1980s, which brings me to another, interesting point: this pipe’s stain. More specifically, while Sea Rock Briars have typically been dressed in a pebble-dash rustication and either a black, reddish brown, or “fumed” black and red stain (AKA the Old Sea Rock), this one is much lighter in hue. Given that the Natural Vergin (essentially a Sea Rock in a near-naked stain) wasn’t in regular production until the 1980s, I wonder if Castello stopped making light brown Sea Rocks after that. Perhaps more seasoned Castello experts will be able to enlightenment. In any case, this is a wonderful, uncommonly slender, pencil shank piece, and quite possibly the lightest (in weight) Castello I’ve encountered outside of the workshop’s “Le Castelline” miniatures.

The condition is very good. Some minor wear and darkening on the inner rim. The pipe comes with its original box and sleeve.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.70 / 17.78mm

Bowl Depth: 1.23″ / 31.24mm

Weight: 0.9oz / 26g