Caminetto part II
Todd R Jerabek
>>>I have received a Caminetto in an exchange. It is a good-sized bent
(pot?)with a saddle bit. It has what I believe is a New Dear finish.
However, that is about all I can figure on my own. I'd like to know what
exactly this is according to the nomenclature.
Side A: Caminetto
7-L-11
Side B: Hand Made
Cucciago - Italy<<<
So, can someone tell me where I can find out what the nomenclature 7-L-11
means? I will look it up, but I need to know where to begin.
Todd
flatulent1
Try here...
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=caminetto&as_ugroup=alt.smokers.pipes&num=100&hl=en
--
Fred Latchaw
www.seattlepipeclub.org
I think a good part of the key to keeping pipes clean
is smoking VERY slowly as my cleaners come out tinged
very light brown one one end and nearly white on
the other and they taste quite good.
- Terry Freeman
Steve Banks
"Todd R Jerabek" <tjer...@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:u6t0cel...@corp.supernews.com...
The logo on the stem... does it look like a bird in flight (one wavy line)
or does it look like two upside-down comma's? This will help me get my
bearings.
--
Steven Banks
A.S.P. 1994
http://communities.msn.com/ASPAltSmokersPipesOnlineCommunity
Todd R Jerabek
Todd
Steve Banks
> It is two commas, looks like a moustache.
>
> Todd
Caminetto translates roughly to "open fire or fireplace," and was founded in
1968 by Peppino Ascorti together with Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli who was
the
sales rep and designed many of the Caminetto shapes we have today. This
partnership broke up around 1980. When they started back up in 1986, Paolo
Mazzilli was assisted by two other pipe makers that worked with the original
company.
Most of my experience with Caminettos stops at around 1984, Caminetto was
reborn in 1986. Pipes from 1980 and prior have a gold imprint of a
"moustache" which looks like a flying bird or wavy line. This is where they
get "Il Pipa del Baffo," the pipe with a moustache. Note: The logo was
derived from Gianni Davoli who was a co-founder of Caminetto. It was HIS
moustache that the logo was designed after. Later, the original logo was
replaced with the current logo which looks like two upside-down commas (your
pipe), because Davoli changed his moustache style to a very thick upswept
handlebar type moustache. Interestingly enough though he was Italian... he
really got into dressing like a staunch Brit. Right down to the Bowler/Derby
hat! The guy was a very charismatic marketing genius.
I know of two series pipes, the Prestige and Business.There are a lot of
differentiating "accents" concerning the Prestige series, bands, shank
rings, etc. There is a lot here... numbers of the original shapes went from
101 to 200. They started to stamp the pipes with the letter "K" instead of
the number 200. So "K" is not to far from "L" (your pipe), so I would have
to guess this is the beginning of the 300 series of pipe shapes? The 7 and
11
are throwing me off. This is a newer scheme than I remember.
Stampings on where it was made, there are three that I remember:
1.)
Ascorti
Radice
Cucciago
Cantu-Italy
2.)
Hand Made in Italy
Cucciago (Co)
3.)
Made in Italy
Cucciago (Cantu)
Where in Italy? Northern region called Lombardy, in the province of Como, in
the city of Cantu, in a suburb called Cucciago. That's why you see Cucciago
(Co) [Como] and Cucciago (Cantu'). This would be the equivalent of my
saying: The Northwest, King County, Seattle, SODO (south of downtown).
Number 1 (above) always had the bird in flight logo in gold, number 2 had
bird in flight logo then later in production was changed to the two comma
logo (so this style you may see one or the other logo) both logos in gold,
and number 3 always had just the two comma logo and this logo was in white.
Tinderbox was the first US importer, so some pipes imported into the states
have a TB shield.
BTW... in the early years, all Cami's were "hand made," and on some old ones
there aren't even any model numbers.
There is a lot more to Cami's than I have let on here... while I haven't
given you the "specifics" you were probably looking for, at least you have a
little history behind your pipe.
Mingkahuna
Caminetto.
A nice pipe. But, your L' anatra, now that was something!
As to the nomenclature, I've never been able to make sense of it. I think that
you'll find that it is the same nomenclature used on Ascorti pipes, so if you
do an archives search be sure to include Ascorti.
As to Camineto as a whole, this can be a very confusing brand. There are avid
collectors of the older Radice/Ascorti pipes, and then you've got the newer
Ascorti produced pipes after the breakup of old Caminetto. There's quite a
history there. Its also hard to figure what one should pay for a Caminetto.
Some time back one of the cigar houses (thompsons, I think) was selling
Caminettos for something like $55 each. I remember getting the catalog
thinking that here was the deal of a century. So did some dealers who were
lucky enough to but them up. They were able to sell those pipes for $100 and
make a nice profit while other dealers were selling the same pipes, not so
cheaply acquired, for $250. You can recognize some of these pipes (they came
from the 80's) by a rounded silver cap over the tenon with a thin black acrylic
band betetwen the cap and the shank. They were almost all rusticated. They
were also very nice pipes, especially for the money. But, now you've got so
many pricepoints going on for virtually the same pipe. And, the new Ascorti
Caminettos aren't cheap either. This is all very confusing which will probably
end up making them even more collectible.
Buzz
Bob Rhode a.k.a. TBomb
incarnation in the 70's. Its rebirth in 1986 has an interesting story
behind it too and is a fascinating example of why it gets so difficult
to determine what a pipe's actual "value" should be.
After starting together at Castello, Luigi Radice and Pepino Ascorti
decided to split off and found the original Caminetto that Steve
refers to in the 70's. Its success was tremendous but by the end of
the decade the two geniuses (genii?) had a big enough difference in
marketing philosophy that they decided to go their seperate ways.
Radice was in favor of a "less for more" approach while Pepino was
more in favor of the volume approach to selling pipes. Luigi started
the Radice label and, with his sons, has continued it to the present.
Pepino's story was a little less straightforward. After a very brief
period making the Sergio label (not, as some eBay sellers have
maintained, a Caminetto second) Pepino founded the Ascorti brand.
Shortly after its founding he signed with Tinderbox what many consider
the worst contract in the history of pipe marketing. In essence it
allowed TB to determine both how many and at what price they would
exclusively sell Ascorti pipes in the US. It's been referred to by
some as "Pepino's slave contract." TB chose to market Ascortis as a
lower priced house label and Pepino was forced to produce the pipes.
After Pepino's death in '85(?) his son, Roberto, took charge of the
business. Among his other achievements he resurrected the Caminetto
label so his company could market their pipes at prices that would
more reflect their value. The "new" Caminetto was born as a result of
TB's Ascorti pricing.
The new Cams have used two stamping sytems that I'm aware of. The
first was four letter/numbers in a cross, the second was three in a
row. I'm not clear what all of these meant but the number on the
right indicated the year of production counting from 1986. Hence an
11 was '97 production.
Qualitywise the new Cams are extremely well made pipes that rival
Castellos in the Italian market. Over here they tend to run a bit
less due to their association with the "cheaper" Ascortis.
That's the story as I've been able to piece it together. Any
additions or corrections would be appreciated. It's an interesting
story of the importance of marketing in determining the value of a
pipe I think. To think I got into all this because I once asked
someone why a Radice should cost more than an Ascorti...
Bob
Todd R Jerabek
1997.
Like I said earlier, I know the most important thing about it - it is a
great smoker.
Thanks for your help guys, it has been a great lesson.