Mastro de Paja 1998 Columbus Day Pipe w/ Stand Estate Briar Pipe, Unsmoked

Description

Like Castello, Mastro de Paja holds a special place in the world of Italian high-grade pipe workshops. Founded in 1972 by Giancarlo Guidi, the MdP team was soon joined by Giannino Spadoni and Bruto Sordini with the Guidi and Spadoni at the helm of the company until 1981. Guidi then left with Sordini to found Ser Jacopo, and Sordini would later leave Ser Jacopo to found Don Carlos. Spadoni, on the other hand, stayed at MdP until he also left, after which he founded Fiamma di Re. Today, Mastro de Paja is guided by Alberto Montini, with the workshop being known for both the manufacture of some of Italy’s most admired pipes, and for having launched the careers of some of its most respected artisans.

Pipe makers create limited edition releases for all manner of occasions, whether it’s Christmas, Halloween, anniversaries of famous pipe smokers, anniversaries of the maker themselves, and so on. But this pipe is the first I’ve ever seen of its kind. It is a 1998 pipe made by Pesaro’s famous Mastro de Paja workshop to commemorate Columbus Day, an American national holiday all about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the new world. Christopher Columbus was, of course, Italian, so I suppose Mastro de Paja creating a Columbus Day pipe is not unlike Savinelli and its tributes to Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, and so on. What is quite unlike other limited releases, whether at home or abroad, is that this pipe is carved in a semi-figural manner, intended to evoke a boat’s hull. The boat in question is Columbus’s own Santa María, which is helpfully engraved on a plaque on the dedicated stand this pipe comes with.

This pipe is completely unsmoked and comes with its original box and stand.

Details:

Length: 6″ / 152.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.47″ / 37.33mm

Weight: 2.1oz / 62g