Mastro de Paja 3A 1 Sun Smooth Large Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

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.

In its earlier decades, Mastro de Paja pipes were far less inclined to the kinds of ornate and often ostentatious aesthetics found in later Pesaro School makes, such as Ser Jacopo or Fiamma di Re (and indeed Mastro de Paja more recently). Instead, the workshop’s focus was typically one of modern—sometimes updated—renditions of classic shapes, executed to a standard that only a handmade pipe could meet. This one, for example, could pass for something like a Dunhill LB, or OD 835, though this would need to be a Root Briar with particularly good grain patterns, as this one exhibits.

The condition is very good. A few minor scratches and a little wear to the rim, but nothing major.

 

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.83 / 21.08mm

Bowl Depth: 1.82″ / 46.22mm

Weight: 2.0oz / 58g