You are right about that...I just never found any fill in mine and the ones I' ve seen up close...
Castello Pipes
- Thread starter WVpiper3
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You must see them in person. Photos don’t do them justice. Great things about them : the briar seems uniquely aged and sweet; the finishing work is immaculate; something about the draw is perfect. I find that I’m not fussing with the tobacco so much (in fact, not at all !) Their bowl interiors are like glass with no pits. Draft hole perfectly drilled. This is simply based on the first and only one I have. Suffice it to say, I will buy another !
If you've smoked for any lengthy amount of time, they really smoke no different than any other pipe. The ones with a chamber coating taste like they've been coated with stain for several dozen smokes. Some have had to file down the buttons though. Very thick with sharp edges.
That's what Savinelli's Autograph line is for.
Just the two, both Sea Rocks. A Carlo Scotti GG 55 and a Kino 4K 11. Both are among my favorites.
I bought my first one recently and am already looking for another one. The open draw is unique in that it makes sipping different than my tighter Dunhill and Comoy’s. I’ve always been an English pipe guy, but I do enjoy Castello’s and Radice for their unique Italian style and the way they smoke. That draw is good for flakes I’ve noticed.
That’s a beauty. I agree 100% !! So easy to just sip those flakes. They call it “open draw” but I just think of it as correct draw. My guess is that Castello experimented over the years and arrived at an ideal formula for draft hole size relative to bowl size. I’d love to know if this is true. I also believe they have developed the correct tools to produce a pipe that is both gorgeous and functional. And I would assume they keep those tools in excellent shape and well calibrated.
I’m in trouble now ! Just ordered my second new Castello, against the advice of my financial planner. This first one has immediately become my favorite pipe. I’ll see if the second lives up to it. Smoking my Castello Virgin just now, and had an amazing taste, especially toward end of bowl with a McClelland mix of 1/3 Blackwood flake; 2/3 St James Flake. I was getting a note of what I can only compare to the aroma of baseball card bubble gum. But in a good way. Interestingly, it is the taste I remember from when I first smoked Frog Morton original at the beginning of my pipe smoking journey. Maybe it’s the McClelland processing, and their red Virginias. Whatever it is, it’s amazing !
I'll be your financial planner instead and encourage you to buy more Castellos,
I don't know that Castellos with pre-carbonized chambers exist. If that's what you meant.
Less pre-carbonized, more chamber coating. ALL brands have some pipes with it.
Castello
Dunhill
Bruce Weaver
Bo Nordh
A Castello I purchased recently for Captain Black Grape.
I only purchase the uncoated Castellos. Sometimes it’s hard to tell from the photo.
I tend to not mind coatings but the Castello one tastes like paint.
I'm shocked, I've never seen a Dunhill or Castello with a lined chamber.
All brands cater to different tastes. Some feel that a pipe looks incomplete without the coating.
Raw uncoated bowl all the way !!! That way you can see the quality of the briar as well as the finishing.
Flaws can also lie just under the surface and not reveal themselves until smoked. There have even been posts here about crooked drilling in Castellos. I prefer the look of a blackened chamber. In the end they are all just pipes.
Castello do both but the uncoated tend to be Virgin and their Neutral or lighter stains, if its fumed, black, brown or red stain it will nearly always have a stained/carbonised chamber.