This!!! I’ve noticed the paper towel method works wonders. Thin cake with no need for a reamer I can see with the amount I’d smoke in my lifetime. Glad to hear your pipes have given you almost 40 years of service and going strong. Guess I need to buy more Castello's.
55’ Castello Collection Fiammata
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This!!! I’ve noticed the paper towel method works wonders. Thin cake with no need for a reamer I can see with the amount I’d smoke in my lifetime. Glad to hear your pipes have given you almost 40 years of service and going strong. Guess I need to buy more Castello's.
Haha, as if we needed any justification to buy more Castello's
I am sure Marco will make what you seek. He responds quickly during his work day. Not sure where you are but early morning for you should be midday for him.
This ritual was not in my repertoire when I got the original 55 and no matter of rubbing (even face down on a paper towel with saliva for 20 mins) has been able to get the stain and char you can see. Maybe I’m OCD, but I’ve almost considered one forum members technique of using super high grit sandpaper and doing the same. I’m not too handy though and fear damaging the pipe or not being able to bring back the “shine” of the smooth top.
DO NOT do it with sandpaper unless you really know what you are doing. You may damage the stain, and will certainly have to rewax. I would explore other alternatives to remove it before going that route. You could post asking for help in one of the forums here, there are a ton of restoration experts that have helped me with a bunch of stuff in the past, I'm sure one of them would have a more elegant solution for you, or at least be able to give you good advice if you do go the sandpaper route.
I've just learned doing a couple dozen restorations, that when your brain starts thinking sandpaper might be a good idea, THINK TWICE, do more research, and make SURE that is your only option. Because it may lead to quite a bit more work to get the results you are looking for.
I use very fine stuff fairly often if I'm planning on rewaxing or restaining the entire stummel, but other than that I avoid it at all costs, ESPECIALLY on rims, as if you take even the slightest wrong angle and sand some of that sharp outer (or inner) rim corner it is a real bitch to get it to look normal again, if you even can.
IMO the charring on your rim is nowhere near bad enough to even worry about, but if you want it gone I'd ask for help in the forums for non sanding options, there's gotta be something.
If you do go the sandpaper route I'd buy a couple cheap estates on ebay to practice it on before attempting it on something like your Castello. There are Grabow etc. lots galore on ebay all the time that are great for practicing on, and you can scoop up a handful for like $25. It's well worth it for the experience and practice with restoration of any kind.
Plus you'll have a couple nice looking cheapo burners for the glove box when you're done!
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Maybe this pic of Franco Coppo's pipe collection will help you to make peace with a little rim darkening:
I think a little darkening is inavoidable.
Here is the source of the photo:
www.well-made.it
I think a little darkening is inavoidable.
Here is the source of the photo:
Pipa Castello - Pipe makers
In 1947, Carlo Scotti created a little workshop with the aim of producing high quality pipes that would be technically and aesthetically at the top. He called it Pipa Castello. The business has been
www.well-made.it
Damn! That guy has almost as many Castello's as @npod !!!Maybe this pic of Franco Coppo's pipe collection will help you to make peace with a little rim darkening:
View attachment 14458
I think a little darkening is inavoidable.
Here is the source of the photo:
Pipa Castello - Pipe makers
In 1947, Carlo Scotti created a little workshop with the aim of producing high quality pipes that would be technically and aesthetically at the top. He called it Pipa Castello. The business has been
I even see my favorite shape 26 lurking over there on the right. One of my favorite pipes ever! Must be nice to be an insider.
Thanks again brother. I’ll post on it shortly and see if anyone has any other suggestions. I know it isn’t bad, but I’m very OCD and the fact that only one area is darker than than the other bothers me :p.
To your point, I’d rather live with that than create another issue like a sharp edge, or change the symmetry of the rim.
I’d probably sell it and start over if that happened!
I get it. I'm the same way, that's why I religiously wipe the rim with saliva after each smoke. I'm sure someone out there can help you get rid of it though, even if you do end up having to perform surgery, there are people here that can help you make it happen.
Maybe this pic of Franco Coppo's pipe collection will help you to make peace with a little rim darkening:
View attachment 14458
I think a little darkening is inavoidable.
Here is the source of the photo:
Pipa Castello - Pipe makers
In 1947, Carlo Scotti created a little workshop with the aim of producing high quality pipes that would be technically and aesthetically at the top. He called it Pipa Castello. The business has been
OMG. You’re trying to hurt me aren’t you?!? Not only does this make me want to buy more pipes, but the rim charting on the large rimmed pipe second from the left on the bottom shelf makes me want to go over and clean his collection myself!
Damn! That guy has almost as many Castello's as @npod !!!
I even see my favorite shape 26 lurking over there on the right. One of my favorite pipes ever! Must be nice to be an insider.
Hahaha. That was a good one! But as far as I can tell, there is not a single Opera in Coppo's collection. Don't know what that means...
Those Squashed Tomatoes are quite uncommon.
That is one of my favorite pictures of all time. It inspired me to collect Castellos early on.
Hahaha, I feel this way when I walk/taxi around Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage. I fly a beater 1976 Cessna 185 and try to keep everything spic and span (as much as I can afford to anyway). I even lay tarps down to keep the moose blood off the floor.
Then I'll be taxiing around the lake and see half million dollar airplanes (DeHavilland Beavers, tricked out 206s, etc.) where the owners can't even be bothered to wipe the dead bugs off the windscreen or the fish guts off the floats, hahaha. It makes me want to go around the lake with a goddamn rag and clean shit until I die.
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The 26 was my first Castello and is still my favorite of their shapes. Mine is a Collection KKK and I absolutely love it. Probably the last pipe I would ever get rid of.
I also can't watch it often enough. And it's so good to know, that these pipes do not get used squeamishly.
It is definitely a sight to see, that's for sure. Makes me want to snatch and grab like those kids with the toy store cart on that game show back in the day. Just knock shit off the shelves in one quick pass and flee rapidly.
I think I've seen the thread of yours presenting that very pipe... I guess that was some time before I signed up here. By the way, may I ask, considering your low smoking frequency of one or so bowls a week and your huge number of pipes, if its already broken in?
I'd say so. It was an estate to begin with (albeit a very clean one), and It's had about 20 bowls run through it since I acquired it. It got some real use during moose season. When I am moose hunting I smoke considerably more, 2-3 bowls a day. I only run VA or Va/Pers through it. It's smoked a lot of FVF and Hal o the Wynd, some Firestorm and some HH Pure VA.
Sounds like you are remembering correctly, I did post a thread on it.
Thanks! Good to know this gem gets some actual smoking! And of course nothing breaks in like a Castello....
All my pipes do, haha. I only have one pipe in my collection that I've been hesitant to smoke, which is an unsmoked Kaywoodie from the 1960s. I even smoke my 1928 Double Patent Dunhill FET Shell and my Gert Holbek Polonius. Gert would certainly want it that way, that dude burned out his pipes like no other!
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