is now this
even when I was so locked in to collecting London made pipes that I didn't want anything else in my collection, I admired the heck out of Paolo Becker's work. I like classic English shapes. Danish pipes never did a thing for me. The North Americans and the Russians all seem to be doing their own take on what the Danes do. Italian pipes deviated from English standards too much for my tastes, and so many of the Italian makers just seemed either cheap or meh to me. I was an English pipe guy through and through. But I always looked at Paolo's work and thought man, this guy is not trying to recreate any of his influences or adhere to any school of pipe design. I've said for years, even not owning any Beckers, that I thought Paolo had the strongest, most unique voice out of all the artisan makers.
Well with Paolo passing in 2014, I thought I'd have to patiently wait for the right estate to turn up. But then I started looking at Federico's work and liking what I saw. I went back and looked at what he had produced since his father's death, and I thought Paolo's DNA was clearly evident in every pipe he made, while Becker pipes were at the same time evolving into something beyond what Fritz and Paolo started, something that I feel Paolo certainly would have been proud of. At the end of my thought process I decided that there was no greater tribute I could make to the esteem that I held for Paolo's pipes than to commission a pipe from Federico, the son whom he had entrusted the future to.
The whole experience was great. Federico's communication was quick. The pipe was done much sooner than I had anticipated. The price came in below what he had quoted me. I am really, really happy to be adding a Becker pot to my rack and just wanted to share.
