Paolo Becker (c.1980s-1990s) Partially Rusticated Lovat Estate Briar Pipe, Italian Estates

For many artisans, pipe making is a family affair; Denmark is, of course, most famous for its pipe making dynasties, though such can be found elsewhere, from England, to France, to Canada and, in the case of this pipe, to Italy. The Becker family is perhaps the most famous artisan lineage in pipe history, one whose fame has been rightly earned over the last 5 decades.

It all began with Fritz Becker, an Austrian who fled his native land during the rise of the Third Reich, joined the Allies in their fight to retake Europe, and finally settled in Rome, Italy. Fritz was a pipe smoker, but a very particular one, and would often find himself modifying the pipes he’d bought so that they performed as well as he thought they should do. Around 1970, and after growing tired of having to tinker with every pipe he purchased, Fritz decided to simply make his own from scratch. His son Paolo was similarly enticed by the project, and in 1974, the two of them began crafting pipes together. After a few years the famous Carmignani tobacconist in Rome began carrying Fritz & Paolo’s pipes under the Carmignani name. By 1979, the Beckers’ pipes were so popular that they were able to step out from the shadow of Carmignani and sell pipes under the family name instead. Becker pipes have been an Italian institution ever since.

Today, Becker pipes are made by Federico Becker, the son of the late Paolo Becker. Federico began making pipes with his father around the late 2000s-early 2010s, though that’s a tale for another listing. Based on the nomenclature and style, this one belongs to a different era of Becker pipes, that of approximately 1983-2000. That means the pipe was either worked on by Paolo alone, or, if it was made during the 1980s, by Paolo and Fritz together. As with another Becker of a similar provenance that came through recently I’ll treat this as one of Paolo’s, though it makes little difference as to quality and worth.

The design is, as Paolo & Fritz’s designs tended to be, rather traditional, essentially being a Lovat rendition, in the vein of the classic English briars that the two were famously fond of. The pipe’s push-mounted mouthpiece is a little more modern, though still in keeping with the “neoclassical” styles explored by the Beckers during this period. What is decidedly modern, of course, is the finishing, a pebble-dash rustication that was a signature for Becker pipes until around the turn of the new millennium, after which Paolo focused exclusively on sandblasts and smooths (an approach that his son, Federico, would maintain after Paolo’s passing).

The condition is very good. Some darkening and very minor scratches on the rim.

Details:

Length: 5.6″ / 142.2mm

Bowl Width: 0.81 / 20.57mm

Bowl Depth: 1.84″ / 46.73mm

Weight: 1.5oz / 44g