What Is So Great About Castellos

[ssjones]

and I wanted to make sure all the "experts" heard me!

I picked up on that.

 

[sleepy57]

Unlike Dunhills, Castellos have a deserved rep for actually being worth the extra premium over Savs or Stanwells. I've yet to buy one myself, but I've known more than a few from seeing them from the perspective of being behind the counter.
My love for Savs & Stanwells is of course well known, & I base it on quality & bang for buck. I've seen crap Dunhills & they cost an arm & *2* legs. I've never seen a garbage Sav, ever. And the Castellos I've seen have always been even better than my beloved Savs -- grain, drilling, stamping, fit/finish. Dunhills I've seen have been double even Castello pricing, & frankly nowhere near as good. Dunhill = mystique. Castello = quality. Period.
B

I have had a fair amount of older Dunhills and Whitespots and they have all been very exceptional smokers as are my Castello's.

 

[sleepy57]

That's always the deal maker or breaker with me. Out of three Dunhills I've owned, two straight billiards and one zulu, none passed a pipe cleaner. My Castello 293 never failed.

All my Dunhills are excellent smokers .light, well drilled and pass the pipe cleaner

 

[Chasing Embers]

All my Dunhills are excellent smokers .light, well drilled and pass the pipe cleaner

More for you then, I'll never buy another.

 

[sablebrush52]

Don't tell me it's because they look better. They don't and that's not what I'm interested in anyway.

Then you won't be interest in this, but others might be.

Show me a Chacom, Savinelli or Stanwell that has grain like this:

My Castellos smoke well, not better than everything else I have, but well.

 

[workman]

Then you won't be interest in this, but others might be.

Show me a Chacom, Savinelli or Stanwell that has grain like this:

My Castellos smoke well, not better than everything else I have, but well.

I remember this pipe from some other thread and I love it. The grain is one thing, but I really like the shape and the proportions.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Show me a Chacom, Savinelli or Stanwell that has grain like this:

Would be much more attractive sandblasted.

 

[sablebrush52]

Would be much more attractive sandblasted.

Honestly, while I love a good blast, I don't like how birdseye blasts. It's just butt ugly to me.

 

[mso489]

Like that square shank and squared off saddle stem, highly distinctive.

 

[sleepy57]

More for you then, I'll never buy another.

Fine by me!

 

[sleepy57]

Fine by me!

Fine by me!

I would never purchase pipe and would certainly never keep a pipe that did not take a pipe cleaner, even a Dunhill briar calabash I own takes a pipe cleaner as long as I put a slight bend in the forward part of the cleaner

 

[sleepy57]

Early in my pipe collecting career I owned a number of Castello's. I loved the way they smoked and looked with the number 49 Calabash(49) being my favorite. It had incredible grain and it smoked like a dream. That was my Italian phase of collecting along with older Camineto's that were made by Ascorti/Radice and were great smokers. I also had a great smoking Don Carlos, Mastro de Paja, Savinelli Autographs, a Ser Jacobo and a few Viprati's that for the money had incredible grain.

My next phase of collecting were my Danish collecting. I had 6 Formers, 4 Rainer Barbi's, a few Matzhold's a handful of hand made Winslows that were E-B's hand made's and they smoked fine. I then went with some English pipes like a couple of Dunhill's, some Dunhill's, Upshall's, Charatans, Pre Transition Barlings, Willmers and something else.

I eventually ended up collecting American made artisan made pipes and that is where I remain. When it comes to smoking characteristics, looks, qualities of the blasts and a bunch of other characteristics I love giving our guys(American made) almost all of my business.

I love the shaping, the dimensions , the way they practically smoke themselves, their English looks from certain artisans like Rad Davis(22), Brian Ruthenberg(10), Jack Howell,(10) Bruce Weaver(3), Trever Talbert(3) 2 Ryan Aldens and others. I still own 1 Dunhill, a 1966 LB Billiard which for my tastes is the fines looking Billiard ever made. I recently put up 40 pipes for sale and I am not sure where I will be going. I will probably stay with our American guys as I enjoy how most of them smoke and look. I would like to go Danish for a few but I worry about their inside shank dimensions. Many can be too tight and I don't like those. I would own some Castello's but their stems suck, I hate acrylic as they are just too hard on my teeth. Their stems are just something I cannot get into. Also their shaping is nothing that I love. I would buy them for their smoking characteristics only.

The one good thing about all of this is that there are no shortages of pipes to buy. I recently just bought 10 ( I think, could be 11) Jack Howell pipes that are American made and are top of the line smokers. I might go with a Larrysson or 2 as the one I have is a great smoker. I am just amazed at how many people are still making high end artisan made pipes in this economy. The prices on these pipes should be coming way down as the economy takes a big dump. I have my eye on another Scottie Piersell as my first one is a great flake smoker. I am not a fan of her pencil thin shank pipes, but her regular sized pipes smoke like a dream. It will be fun to see which way I will go as the government money is play money for me.

I have recently purchased a couple of pipes from a newer Carver out of the NorthWest, his name is Dustin Franc (pronounced France) check out his work on his site fantastic construction ,great draw and meticulous finishes, and a very fair price. I know he sells out of LePipe but my purchases are all direct through him.

 

[sleepy57]

I would never purchase pipe and would certainly never keep a pipe that did not take a pipe cleaner, even a Dunhill briar calabash I own takes a pipe cleaner as long as I put a slight bend in the forward part of the cleaner

Chasing Embers, Im actually surprised that someone of your experience would purchase a pipe, any pipe that would not pass a pipe cleaner...are you sure you tried a pipe cleaner and not a bottle brush?? just askin'

 

[forloveoffreedom]

I have owned a few full bents that wouldn’t pass a cleaner. It didn’t bother me much. I have owned 3 Castellos and they were indeed gorgeous pipes. Personally, the draw was too open so I sold them off. That’s one great thing, they will keep their value very well!

 

[Fiver5]

Before I go on I want to disclose I've never owned a Castello and my knowledge on them is VERY limited. I was recently listening to an older episode of Pipes Magazine radio and one of the head honchos from Castello was on, one of the things he stated that all Castello's are hand made, he also stated that at that point they only had 4 pipe makers and had recently hired 2 more (apprentices if you will). What I perceived from that (maybe incorrectly, who knows) is that personnel comes and goes.
Now from my point of view, I would say there are several elements to what might make a pipe great vs mediocre, wood choice, design, and possibly one of the biggest factors skill of the artisan. Which leads me to the question, is hand made really better than machine made? From my point of view machine's should be more consistent (they never show up to work with a hangover), hand made quality could have some big variation from one artisan to another, whereas a machine spits out the exact same thing one after another.
One of my other hobbies (or according to my wife obsessions) is guitar collecting/playing I own anything from vintage Gibsons to Chinese Squier, and while I love my vintage stuff I can honestly say some of my $300 Squier's play and sound as good or at times even better than my $10k Gibsons.
So the question is why would I own a vintage Gibson? And I think the answer is pride of ownership, when I look at my vintage guitars they put a smile on my face, they're my babies, and arguably they're a good investment, something I can pass on to my son when I'm gone. Fifty years from now no one is going to open a guitar case and say wow a Squier! And I think all of this applies to many things including cars and pipes like Castello. At the end of the day does owning one put a smile on your face?
Having said all of that I am on the hunt for a Castello, probably an estate pipe, which leads me to a question for those in the know, how do the vintage Carlo Scotti Castello's stack up against the newer one?

 

[anotherbob]

Before I go on I want to disclose I've never owned a Castello and my knowledge on them is VERY limited. I was recently listening to an older episode of Pipes Magazine radio and one of the head honchos from Castello was on, one of the things he stated that all Castello's are hand made, he also stated that at that point they only had 4 pipe makers and had recently hired 2 more (apprentices if you will). What I perceived from that (maybe incorrectly, who knows) is that personnel comes and goes.
Now from my point of view, I would say there are several elements to what might make a pipe great vs mediocre, wood choice, design, and possibly one of the biggest factors skill of the artisan. Which leads me to the question, is hand made really better than machine made? From my point of view machine's should be more consistent (they never show up to work with a hangover), hand made quality could have some big variation from one artisan to another, whereas a machine spits out the exact same thing one after another.
One of my other hobbies (or according to my wife obsessions) is guitar collecting/playing I own anything from vintage Gibsons to Chinese Squier, and while I love my vintage stuff I can honestly say some of my $300 Squier's play and sound as good or at times even better than my $10k Gibsons.
So the question is why would I own a vintage Gibson? And I think the answer is pride of ownership, when I look at my vintage guitars they put a smile on my face, they're my babies, and arguably they're a good investment, something I can pass on to my son when I'm gone. Fifty years from now no one is going to open a guitar case and say wow a Squier! And I think all of this applies to many things including cars and pipes like Castello. At the end of the day does owning one put a smile on your face?
Having said all of that I am on the hunt for a Castello, probably an estate pipe, which leads me to a question for those in the know, how do the vintage Carlo Scotti Castello's stack up against the newer one?

I've heard people say the same things about Gibsons that some here say about Dunhill. That it's more of cashing in on the name now. I don't know but have heard that from a few guitarists who used to love Gibson.

 

[Fiver5]

I've heard people say the same things about Gibsons that some here say about Dunhill. That it's more of cashing in on the name now. I don't know but have heard that from a few guitarists who used to love Gibson.

I have a 1965 Gibson ES345, the pickups on that guitar have a sticker that says "PAT number" pickups (patent number had been received ), the same pickups on a 1962 ES345 would have had a "PAF" sticker (patent applied for). The pickups would have more or less been the same, they were wound by Gibson factory workers (mostly women) with no real formula, they just wound the wires on there until they appeared full (probably no two are identical). Yet the first pickups fetch thousands of dollars, pre 2008 up to $10k a set, the former such as mine can be had for a few hundred dollars, other then the stickers they're the same pickups. Welcome the the world of collecting, sometimes there's no logic, a certain lore builds, and things become legendary, they're better just mostly in our heads (Eric Clapton played them, they must be magic!). But at the end of the day, the value is maintained, weather justified or not.
Castello's and Dunhills have made some great pipes, but some of my $30 Brigham's are also great pipes...

 

[mortonbriar]

Then you won't be interest in this, but others might be.

Show me a Chacom, Savinelli or Stanwell that has grain like this:

My Castellos smoke well, not better than everything else I have, but well.

I love the birds eye. I cringe at the 'non traditional' curves, but I am very glad that companies and carvers bother to think/carve outside the box. I will choose fairly boring shapes to add to my collection, but I want to do so after looking at a wider variety of shapes that seem wrong to me, thus making me feel like I got the 'right' one.

When I was a jeweller years ago, we would sell at big craft shows where middle aged women would come to buy Christmas presents for themselves. We had on display a whole lot of zany, artsy and unique one off pieces, and then bags and bags of mundane shit. The ladies would come over and admire all the unique pieces, and then summon up enough courage to buy one of the mundane pieces instead. By buying a mundane piece of jewellery from someone who was crazy enough to make outrageous pieces they had managed to feel like they were a little rebellious themselves, definitely more unique and zany than the lady who just left the stall with the exact same mundane bauble that they are handing over cash for right now...

When it comes to buying pipes, I am a middle aged woman shopping for my own Christmas present in a craft market.

 

[mortonbriar]

P.s I have never owned a Castello, no personal comment there....but at 9 pages deep I think you got an answer.

 

[Searock Fan]

I bought my first Castello in 1963 and by the end of '64 I had 6. They were hard to find and expensive at $25 each. I still have and smoke those 6 and about 70 more. I'll admit some of the other high end Italian makes such as Mastro, Ser Jacopo, Caminetto, are also great smokers and are probably a better buy for the money, but there is something special about a Castello.......