Castello Sea Rock SC 35 Rusticated Billiard Estate Briar Pipe [SOLD OUT]

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.’

This pipe belongs to Castello’s ‘Sea Rock’ line, possibly most famous line the brand offers. I’ve said it before, but nobody does rustication quite like the Italians, and the Sea Rock style of craggy, granular, marine-inspired finishing has been emulated and reinterpreted by many admirers.

For those who are interested, Castello pipes can dated by their stamping with a relative degree of precision. While Castello did not begin including a year stamp until 1987 (40 years after the company’s founding), the nomenclature before this time went through a number of iterations that make Castello ‘eras’ ascertainable. The use of the lettered size grading (here, SC) was used by Castello between the 1950s and ’60s, as was the rhinestone stem logo used for pipes sold in the United States. That makes this pipe at least 50 years old – and in a wonderful condition for being so. Castello owners tend to look after them, though. I certainly do with mine.  

 

Details:

Length: 5.9″

Bowl Width: 20.8mm

Bowl Depth: 1.75″

Weight: 1.5oz / 43g