Blog by Steve Laug

When I am travelling for work in Europe I am always on the look out for a pipe shop that piques my interest. Before I left for Florence, Italy I did a quick search of pipe shops there and asked on Facebook Pipe groups which shops might warrant my attention. Both Google and Facebook contacts pointed to one shop that I had to take time to visit – Castellana’s Pipe and Tobacco Shop in the shadow of the Florence Cathedral or Domo. Formally called the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower of Florence Italy. It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. It is a phenomenal structure and a building of great beauty.

I had some time in the city before my meetings so a couple of friends Rohan, Kelly and I walked around the Cathedral Square and were struck with awe at the design and style of the building. It is an imposing structure that really stilled some of noise of the plaza – though honestly it may just have eclipsed all that in my senses as I walked around it. It was a beauty as I mentioned but I have to be honest and confess to you readers that really, I was so focused at this point on finding Castellanas that all else was at some level very peripheral to my main mission. Sad but true isn’t it? But nonetheless true of Pipemen on a search for a pipe and tobacco shop. My Google maps informed me that the shop was on the left side of the Cathedral and just about two doors off the square. We turned the corner and if we weren’t paying attention would have walked right past the shop. This is what we saw on the door.Before we opened the door to enter the shop I stopped and looked in the bowed front window under the Tabacchi sign. There was a great display of Castello pipe, Dunhill pipes and some CAO meerschaum pipes. Along with them were some porcelain humidors, leather pipe bags and wooden cigar humidors. It was a tasteful window display that caught our attention. We opened the door and were met with this amazing display of tobacco products – cigars (Cuban and Italian), cigarrettes, snuffs and in the middle pouches and on the right tins of tobacco. Many varieties of tobacco only available in Europe. The aroma of a tobacco shop also flooded our nostrils with their rich and tantalizing flavours. It was amazing.We introduced ourselves to Giovanni and gave him a business card. He said that several of his customers followed rebornpipes and had mentioned us to him. We enjoyed a great visit and went through the tobacco offerings that Giovani had available and I picked out a tin of Erinmore Balkan and another of Erinmore Latakia. Rohan picked up two other tins as well. You can see Govanni enjoying a Castello in the photo below while my Tinsky travel pipe and pouch along with Rohan’s Italian pipe and pouch are shown on the sides of the box of Castello pipes that Giovanni was showing us. On top of the display of the Castellos was a bag of Friedman & Pease Fool’s Cap that I brought along to share with Giovanni. We each loaded a bowl of the tobacco in our pipes and went outside to the store front to enjoy the tobacco. Giovanni gave each of us a nice lighter to have as a memory of the visit and used them to fire up our pipes and enjoy them together. I left this first visit with two tins of tobacco and a nice pipe lighter from Giovanni to enjoy. I have included a photo below. I told Giovanni that I hoped to return later the next week with my daughter to have a closer look at the Castello pipes he had and a bit of a visit before I headed back to Canada. We would have to see how it worked out.Our meetings for work went very well and we finished them on Monday morning. We travelled back to Florence and bade farewell to each other. My daughter and I headed to our Air BNB in Florence for four more days of R&R before heading back to Canada. On Thursday morning my daughter and I took a bus back to Domo Plaza to revisit the Castellana shop. Giovanni was glad to see us and welcomed us with open arms. He said that he had enjoyed the tobacco I had left with him and had gone online to rebornpipes to have a look. He was glad to see us and I introduced my daughter to him. I asked him to bring out the Castello pipes he had once again so I could go through them and choose one. He brought out two different cases of Castellos and I chose a nice looking sandblast bent apple.

The pipe has a rich and deep sandblast finish that is stained with a dark stain around the bowl and a smooth rim top. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank and read Made in Cantu [over] on the far left with the shape number 33 followed by Italy. Underneath it was stamped Kino in an oval. That is followed by Castello [over] Old Antiquari [over] KKKK. The pipe came with a Castello box, sock and paperwork. I also picked up a pouch of Italia which is an Italian blend of Virginia and Dark Kentucky.I took the pipe out of the box and sock and took photos of the pipe. It has a deep and rugged sandblast around the bowl and shank. The flow of the bowl and the short taper acrylic stem is quite stunning. It has the foil diamond on the left side of the stem which Giovanni said originally was used on pipes made for sale to the US. However, he said that they are also used on pipes sold on the Italian Market. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and the foil/diamond logo on the left side of the taper stem. It is a beauty.When I return to Florence again in the future it is definitely a shop I will revisit. Once again, I will enjoy a bowl of tobacco in this pipe, or perhaps another outside the front door. If you are in Florence this shop is not one you will want to miss. Check it out and have a visit with the owner, Giovanni Castellana. He is a great man who is full of pipe history and knowledge that is broad and also a lot of focused knowledge on all things Castello. His shop is certainly a unique and very much like the older style pipe shops that I have visited at home and abroad. Check it out online – http://www.pipeandcigar-castellana.it/ . Ciao Giovanni. I will remember our visits each time I smoke this beautiful pipe. Thank you for your help in picking out this pipe.