Castello Sea Rock Briar 56F Rusticated Bulldog 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.’

Castello’s Sea Rock Briar is a quintessentially Italian, pebble-dash rustication, but it is nonetheless one that has stood out among the many other Italian makes that have adopted similar finishes over the decades. And there good reason for that: it looks – and feels – great. What I did find especially curious about this Castello is that it doesn’t have a size stamp. Castello’s size and grade system has changed several times since the make’s inception, beginning with the “S” system (SA, SC, etc.), moving to the uppercase “K” (K, KK, etc.), before ultimately settling on the current, circled lowercase “k” (k, kk, etc.). So, when is this one from? As far as I’m aware, Castello hasn’t used the “F” shape designation (“flock” is a common Italian term for mounts and ferrules) since the “S” system was in place, so I would hypothesize that this one is from the 1950s/1960s.

The condition is great. There’s some very minor rim darkening, but the pipe has nonetheless been preserved beautifully.

 

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.80 / 20.32mm

Bowl Depth: 1.55″ / 39.37mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g