Becker (Fritz & Paolo) XL Rusticated Rhodesian Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

Description

The Becker family is one of Italy’s most renowned pipe-making lineages. Beginning with the painter, sculptor, and WW2 British intelligence officer Fritz Becker, the Becker name became synonymous with Italian high-quality pipes after Fritz was discovered by Giorgio Musico, a pipe-maker himself, and owner of a popular pipe shop in Rome. Both Fritz and Giorgio had sons, Paolo Becker and Massimo Musico who learned pipe-making from their fathers and would go on to collaborate in making the famous Becker & Musico pipes, before parting to return to making Becker pipes and Musico pipes once more. Paolo passed away in 2014, but his son, Federico continues to make Becker pipes, to continued acclaim.

Rustication, particularly pebble-dash rustication, is a great Italian tradition, and it is perhaps Italy more than anywhere else in the world where high-grade pipes often wear rusticated finishes. Castello, Caminetto, Ascorti, Radice, Ardor, and Ser Jacopo, to give just a few examples, are all high-grade makes that include rusticated finishes in their output. So, it can be quite difficult for an Italian pipe-maker to create such a finish and for it to stand out among the others. Yet this is exactly what the Becker family managed to do, at least until retiring their rusticated finishes in the early 2000s. And when I say “family,” in this instance I mean it in more than one sense. Based on Paolo Becker’s own (now archived) timeline of Becker nomenclature over the years, this rusticated Rhodesian one is likely to have been made between 1983 and 1995, back when Fritz Becker—who started it all—and his son Paolo Becker were making pipes under their family name together.

The condition is very good. Some inner rim charring and slight finish fading.

 

Details:

Length: 6.5″ / 165.1mm

Bowl Width: 0.85 / 21.59mm

Bowl Depth: 1.45″ / 36.83mm

Weight: 2.7oz / 78g