The First Smoke in a Castello

natibo · Oct 25, 2014

I have heard from pipe pundits, including Greg Pease I believe, about pipes that smoke great from the first smoke. No breaking in required. I have never experienced this, until now.
I recently received a new Castello Sea Rock Billiard KKKK. The very first smoke, and the others that followed, were excellent. If this id how all Castellos smoke, consider me a fan. In fact, I believe they have quite a following.

fishingandpipes · Oct 25, 2014

Yep. I remember trying my first Castello. I kind of just went, "oh". And then I promptly sold the majority of my other pipes.

sablebrush52 · Oct 25, 2014

I love my Castellos. There's a reason why some pipes are worth the money.

layinpipe · Oct 25, 2014

Great thread and i wholeheartedly agree. I experienced the exact same thing upon lighting up my first Castello and i actually made a thread about it. I now own 3 and am always on the lookout to add more. Castello does not disappoint.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/fin-pad-strikes-again-castello-pipe

layinpipe · Oct 25, 2014

Claude, DO IT. Trust me brother, you will NOT be disappointed.

peckinpahhombre · Oct 25, 2014

Castellos provide an amazing smoking experience, particularly more recent ones which have a wide-open draw. Some do not like lucite stems though and others find the lip a bit too thick. I am not bothered about any of those points though. I bought two more Castellos a week or so ago and am now up to about 25. So yeah, I love them.
One thing that does take a bit of getting used to is, because the draw is so wide open, you really should pack a little tighter than you would with most other pipes. Once you get the hang of that though, they are golden.
My favourites are the Vergins. They really get a beautiful patina on them. Here are the two I bought last week, both vergins.

peckinpahhombre · Oct 25, 2014

I agree Gig. And no one rusticates a pipe better than the Italians, and Castello is the best amongst the Italians. My favourite Sea Rock is the one below, which my wife bought me as a anniversary gift last year:

phil22 · Oct 26, 2014

Peck-that second pipe is gorgeous!
Castello is one of my favorites as well. I find mine to be great smokers, and I prefer a lucite stem with an open draw. I am a sucker for higher end Italian pipes.
I am also very fond of Tom Spanu pipes. His work is amazing in my opinion. I am a bit biased as I love Sardinia so much though.

ssjones · Oct 26, 2014

A Castello pipe does lend a very particular flavor to my regular blends. I had an opportunity to smoke my first new Castello last week, a very pleasant experience. As Peck mentioned, sometimes the buttons are too pronounced but thankfully my recent Trademark (small in size) has an appropriately sized button. Magic.

ravkesef · Oct 26, 2014

Castillo pipes are truly sui generis--always a great smoke, regardless of which one you get. And here's an interesting thing about them: The company tells you that they all smoke perfectly, and regardless of how much you pay for one, the top-of-the-line models are not better smokers, but simply have more craftsmanship or styling. Everyone is guaranteed to be a perfect smoke, and if you smoke it for a while, and you decide that it isn't delivering the goods, the company will take it back and swap it out for another.

pylorns · Oct 26, 2014

Damnit. Another pipe to add to the list.

newbroom · Oct 26, 2014

ok....now I've got Costello on my to do list, thanks men.

blueeyedogre · Oct 26, 2014

Love Castillo sea rock rusticating, it is by far the coolest looking rustication out there. I don't know if CastIllo does a pipe with a 9mm filter and as long as I don't know I don't have to want one. Denial is more then a river in de Egypt!

antbauers · Oct 26, 2014

Simply put, Castello's are great.
Love those Vergins.

mso489 · Oct 26, 2014

I don't buy most of my pipes at Castello prices, but if I did, I'd be careful to know the weight of the

pipe I was buying. Nothing against some weight; I have some heavy pipes. I just want to know what

I'm getting. Heavy ones I mostly hold; for clenching, I want something lighter. Castello makes some lighter pipes,

but you want the information in advance. I wouldn't buy a Castello online without phoning and getting

the weight, and being convinced I was talking to someone who knows how to weigh a pipe, if the retailer

doesn't regularly list weights. All online retailers should list length, weight, and confirm shape correctly.

I've seen some really odd shape categorizations -- what's going on there?

ssjones · Oct 26, 2014

I searched for a long time for a Castello Shape 54 that was less than 50 grams. Castello loves to make the 4k and G, GG sized pipes it seems. (I'm sure they make what sells!)

cortezattic · Oct 26, 2014

Do Ardor, Ser Jacopo, Rinaldo and Radice compare favorably to Castello?

peckinpahhombre · Oct 27, 2014

Cortez, I have pipes from all 5 (and also Don Carlos). They all usually provide a great smoke and are fine pipes. I will say though that, save for Ardor, they don't have the same wide open draw that Castello has. Ardor seems to be a little less but still pretty open. Newer Castellos are purportedly drilled around 4.4-4.6 mm.
Every Ardor I have however is perfectly drilled, and I have a fair number. In contrast, Ser Jacopos are hit or miss for me. I have a few great smokers that are close to my Castellos but I have had a couple of duds too - just poor drilling. I am amazed at the consistency in the drilling for newer Castellos. I have a few recent 3/4 bents that pass a cleaner perfectly. It is the older Castellos I find issues with, including tight draws in many cases.
I think you are unlikely to go wrong with any of those brands, truthfully. But I do think you are less likely to get a dud with a Castello as long as it is of recent vintage. It seems to be one of the few companies that has actually gotten better at what they do over the years.

cortezattic · Oct 27, 2014

Thanks for the assessment. I've often wondered what it is I'm missing by not owning a Castello.

These days, I seem to prefer an open draw; but a diameter exceeding 4mm seems a bit much.

peckinpahhombre · Oct 27, 2014

And I will add for value pricing it is very tough to beat Radice at their usual price point. I don't think, by and large, they are at the same quality level as Castello, and you can get a gurgling mess (if you go for a steep bend) but you can find them for much less and they have a high likelihood of being a great smoker.
If someone said I had only $200 to spend on a NEW pipe, I would buy a Radice, no question.

The First Smoke in a Castello

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