Becker

Becker - three generations of pipe makers - Fritz, Paolo and Federico. 

In the turmoil as WII ended Fritz washed up in Rome. 

Fritz and his son Paolo, began making pipes in the late 1970s using XX top grade Calabrian plateau briar from Southern Italy, one of the worlds best. In 1979, they stamped them "Becker". Both of them worked on Becker pipes as Paolo learnt from his father. 

Aesthetically, Becker pipes exhibit a fusion of Italian design and classical shapes; Becker’s have a clearly recognizable profile often with a keel. Bowls are regularly traditional shapes with a fine pencil shank or with a definite waist between shank & body. They use both acrylic and vulcanite for the stems and shank ornamentations are understated - a thin band of boxwood or ring of silver. Briar was the normal material & later Paolo pioneered the use of sandblasted Morta and strawberry wood, (a type of briar).

The pipes are graded with the nomenclature of playing cards. The higher the number of the suite, or if you will the better the hand, the higher the grade. Paolo Becker died in late 2014. The Becker name had come to be one and the same with Paolo in the minds of many, Federico, Paolo's son is the 3rd generation Becker pipe carver. His style and aesthetic follows that of his family tradition, with a 21st aesthetic.