by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is a nice looking Caminetto Billiard that we purchased from a seller in Wellsville, Kansas, USA on 12/09/2024. The stamping on the pipe was very clear and readable. On the underside of the shank it reads Caminetto [over] Sable D’Or [followed by] Made in Italy [over] Cucciago (Cantu). The finish was in good condition though it was dusty. The sandblast grain shone through the grime and was beautiful. The pipe appears to have been recently reamed and the bowl was clear briar on the bottom half of the bowl. The rim top was clean though dusty. The inner edge had a burn mark on the inner edge on the right side of the bowl. The stem had a gold Moustache logo on the topside of the saddle. It was dirty and had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipe as he saw it at this stage of his examination. Jeff took close up photos of the rim top from various angles to show the general condition of the bowl and rim. The photos show the recently reamed bowl and a burn mark on the inner edge on the right side. The acrylic stem was dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took a photo of the sides and heel of the bowl to give an idea of the beauty of the grain on the heel and sides of the bowl.The stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the Caminetto Moustache logo on the left side of the stem. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html) to see what I could learn about the Sable D’Or line and the thin Caminetto Moustache on the stem. Brand created in 1968 by Giuseppe Ascorti († 1984), Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli as distributor.

• 1979: End of he first Caminetto period. Luigi Radice left the company. Giuseppe Ascorti produced the Sergio pipes (a short time) and moved into his new workshop with his son Roberto. (See also Capitello)
• 1986: New Caminetto period by Roberto Ascorti

From the information there I am fairly certain that the pipe was made between 1968-1979 when the first Caminetto period ended. The thin moustache also signals the first Caminetto period. The pipe is probably crafted by Guiseppe Ascorti or Luigi Radice.

From there I turned to Pipedia for more detailed information about the Caminetto brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Caminetto). I quote below:

Caminetto’s history started in 1959 when Guiseppe Ascorti, from Cucciago, and known to his friends as “Peppino”, was hired by Carlo Scotti to work at Castello, located in nearby Cantu. Since it’s foundation in 1947 Castello had contributed substantially to regained glory for Italian pipemaking.

Talent and assiduity soon made Ascorti one of Scotti’s most notable pipemakers – a man he counted on for the future. But, Ascorti had his own far reaching plan: He wanted to work as a self-employed pipemaker! After his wife, Paola, had taken over her parent’s small greengrocery in the early 1960’s this plan became more concrete. The additional income from the shop enabled him to buy tools and machines little by little to furnish his own workshop. By the end of 1968 he was ready and left Castello. Ascorti also persuaded his co-worker, the young and highly-talented pipemaker Luigi Radice (born 1939), to join him – the two were neighbors in Cucciago. Carlo Scotti, whom is known as a perfect gentleman, is reported to have spoken unreservedly about this development.

Ascorti & Radice started to manufacture pipes on their own. One of the first who agreed to market their pipes was Gianni Davoli, proprietor of a tobacco shop in Milan. The situation was perfect–two pipemakers in search of a distributor, and a pipe merchant in search of a mainstay brand to market. Davoli – via friends and relations in the States – had made flourishing contacts with US pipe wholesalers and traders. He shipped some pipes across the pond for inspection and received excellent feedback for the very high quality of the pipes. He, shortly after, offered to be the sole distributor worldwide, and Ascorti & Radice happily accepted.

Then came the legendary evening when Ascorti, Radice and Davoli gathered around the fireplace after a hard day’s work enjoying their pipes, a glass of wine, and humorous conversation. Davoli is said to be the one who associated the pipes with the fireplace or chimney, which is “camino” in Italian. Hence “Caminetto”, the diminutive (smaller) singular version of camino, was coined as the brand’s name. Ascorti, Radice and Davoli later became famous as “I tre Camini” – the three chimneys. Maybe, they had more than one glass of wine each, but it’s not certain whether the distinctive mustache logo on the stem and the Caminetto slogan “La Pipa del Baffo” – “the pipe with the mustache” – was created the same night. In fact, Ascorti and Radice both wore impressively large mustaches, and a pharmacist in the neighborhood had been kidding them about that. (Davoli, for reasons of corporate identity, later wore a big mustache, too.)

Now, Davoli concentrated on marketing the Caminetto brand in the United States. His strategy was as simple as it was brilliant. There was a remarkable Castello hype at the time. Castello pipes were highly sought after but hard to get due to limited production. Davoli filled the gap, promoting the Caminetto to be absolutely equal to the Castello in terms of quality, while asking only half the price. And best of all: the Caminetto pipes were consignable! The Tinder Box International would be under contract with successful nationwide distribution. The brand’s success was overwhelming – far beyond any expectation, with the rusticated Business line becoming the most popular.

Ironically enough, the increasing demand soon drove Ascorti and Radice to the limits of their production abilities. The brand had been introduced successfully in Germany, and in Italy to some extent. By the end of 1970 more hands were needed. Even Ascorti’s elder son, Roberto Ascorti (born 1958; and the current owner) helped with stamping and shipping the pipes when he was just a schoolboy. The most important employee is Cesare Vigano, who has worked for Caminetto /Ascorti for more than thirty years. To bring about more stability and higher production, Davoli invested a considerable amount of money in modern pipemaking machinery, and in doing so went from distributor to co-owner of Caminetto. By 1973 he held the vast majority of the company’s capital.

The boom continued strongly – especially in the US. Production increased steadily, from 3,000 to 5,000 and then 7,000 pipes being made per year, placing Caminetto at the top of US sales in their market segment. The 1974 Tinder Box catalog celebrated Gianni Davoli as “master pipe maker and designer” and “sole creator of Caminetto” without a single mention of Ascorti or Radice!

Dating Caminetto pipes is very difficult. However, the way the pipe is stamped can narrow it down some and the look of the mustache logo also helps. Pipedia has a helpful article on the process (https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Caminetto_(shapes,_stamping,_articles,_etc.). I quote from it below.

First off, dating earlier Caminetto’s is nearly impossible. Nevertheless, there were three phases, some in which were much earlier, of development that occurred in the stamping process of Caminetto. Before that though, every pipe had the stamp of Caminetto in one of two ways: Caminetto in script or Caminetto within quotation marks in block letters (I do not know how it was decided which pipe got which stamp, as I have had EARLY Caminetto’s with both). The stampings:

1. ASCORTI – RADICE –

CUCCIAGO – CANTU-ITALY

1. HAND MADE IN ITALY

CUCCIAGO (Co)

1. MADE IN ITALY

CUCCIAGO (CANTU)

In addition to the above stampings, there was always the trademark mustache on the stem. The earlier models (1968/69-1974/75) had the iconic gold, sometimes white, “bird-in-flight” moustache and the later models (1975-1979/80/81) had a gold, or white, “double comma” moustache. Tinder Box often stamped their shield on the pipes as well.

Sable D’Or and Sable D’Or KS, KS1 (black, chestnut, natural, mahogany, red or walnut; sandblast). SABLE D’OR, a rare sandblast finished pipe by Caminetto (note nomenclature, and ‘bird-in-flight’ moustache). Photos courtesy Doug Valitchka Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had done his usual thorough clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and finished with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and the interior with isopropyl alcohol, shank brushes, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He worked on the acrylic stem with Soft Scrub then let it soak in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. It has a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took some close up photos of the bowl/rim top and the stem to show the condition they were in at this point. The rim top and edges looked good and the bowl was clean. The stem had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I also captured the moustache logo on the top of the saddle stem. I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the burned area on the right inside edge of the bowl. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush. The product is amazing and works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit on the briar for 10 or more minutes and then buff it off with a soft cloth. It really makes the briar come alive and look quite rich. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the gold Crown S stamp on the left side o the taper stem with some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and buffed it off with a soft cloth.The chatter and marks were light enough that I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth and Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I am excited to put the finishing touches on this Caminetto Sable D’Or Sandblast Billiard with a fancy acrylic saddle stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, fancy turned vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Caminetto Sable D’Or Billiard is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.15 ounces/61 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting in the Italian Pipemaker Section on the rebornpipes store. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe.