What's the Luciano Story?

I heard that Luciano has stopped making pipes, has closed so far as I can tell. Does anyone know the story on this? They made pipes for maybe six years, or at least since they came to my attention. They were described as "hand finished," not artisan but not altogether factory pipes. I didn't mind the hedging on that, the pipes are good. They were priced around $100 and up somewhat. On sale, I bought a handsome sturdy blast straight billiard with a saddle stem from smokingpipes.com, and SP brought it to a pipe show (TAPS) to save me shipping, and gave me a pipe show discount, for about $75. I bought a great smooth author with a big bowl but light weight for a little more. Then I noticed the prices started going up, and pretty soon the were mostly at the $150-$200 level. Now they seem to have disappeared. I especially appreciated that they included the year of manufacture on their stamping; it just seems so damned civilized, no mystery codes or analyzing the typeface of the stamp. Bravo for Luciano. Anyone know what became of the company?

Yeah, I think some of the people who work for Redice also work at Luciano. Some of the online retailers seem not to have re-stocked. But it may just be some inventory glitch or hitting big sales in markets outside the U.S.

Thank you for the updates, gents. I think Luciano was a good chapter in pipe making, and the pipes will be around for the next century to prove it--a fleeting story, but no failure. Luca may be back in one way or another. Any other news on this is welcome.