In the beginning of 70's, in a garret in the center of Rome, Fritz Becker, enthusiast of design, sculpture and painting, started to make some pipes; it was a hard work made with rasps and sand papers. I often hovered there, that garret enchanted me. It was a plase full of things, smells, where the quotidian surrendered to fantasy and creativity. Paints, sculptured, skatches. In 1974 with the development of his project, I started to attend the place more and more often, involving myself more deeply.
I have ever had the passion for the mechanics and I enjoyed playing with materials and to try solutions for processings.
The pipes made in that period were sold with the name of Carmignani, old Roman store, up to 1979 when we entered the market with the new brand Becker and we moved the workshop from the garret to Via della Panetteria, actual location.
With larger spaces and my full time engagement, the number of finished pipes began to increase up to taking the decision to enlarge our market, landing with success in several specialized stores in Italy.
My father has always stayed near to me, ready to counsel and help me, but I had the responsability to plan and personally shape the largest part of the manufacture, particularly the Free Line, which I have always preferred.
Slowly we appear into an international market. From middle 70's, agents from United States came to Italy to find in Italian stores, new pipes to sell in the US. One of them, David Field, arrived in our workshop in 1981 and he offered us to distribute our pipes in USA. We received a prompt and positive return from the American market and in the succeeding years we developed a very good work, rich of satisfactions and recognitions, up today when I have the pleasure to serve customers from all over the world, Japan, China, Russia.
Few pipes, but severely respecting the hand made.
What I can say about my work, after 33 years of activity? The pipe? A passion!
Create it? A privilege! The hours spent in the workshop are a gift! The smell which flows out from the briar during working, the grain that slowly show up, the project which become reality, caressing with sandpapers the surfaces to refine the lines and bents of the composition. Yes, a privilege!
And before! Going to the sawmill. Choosing among thousand of plateaux, those who the experience suggests, imaging pipes to make in the future. Projecting them with care so as the design do not prejudices the technical and functional aspect, my responsability and expectation of each smokers wherewith I share the same passion. Paolo Becker.
(Courtesy of www.italianpipemakers.com)
Moorland Fossil Oak
Developing his offering of pipes, Paolo Becker has just introduced in his current (and limited) production, some pipes made with Moorland Fossil Oak, commonly called Morta wood. Morta wood is not always easy to get and anyway it has to be dried and seasoned like briar. But Paolo has been able to avoid this problem because he picked up some blocks of Morta from a 30 years old stock of wood. A big fortune! For sure! And now he has an excellent quality material to work with.
Style of Becker's morta pipes is exactly the same of other Becker's briar pipes. Paolo decided to make morta pipe only in the black sandblasted finish. In fact he says that he is able in this way to abtain the best result in terms of uniformity in the newer selection of pipes.
I am very proud to be able to be one of the very first store in introducing Becker's Morta pipes to smokers all around the world.
As said morta availability will be very tight: I've been very lucky to be able to get six pipes in one time! I smoked a pipe made with morta wood and I had a good impression. One of the very main points is surely the lightness considering the thickness of the wood of the chamber.
Paolo has been so kind to answer to three questions I placed, just for Neatpipes customers and visitors:
Q: Paolo, why after many years using the traditional and most popular material to make pipes, the briar, you decided to introduce some (few) pieces made in Moorland Fossil Oak (Morta)?
A: As almost all pipemakers, sometimes I have the curiosity to try different kind of wood. I realized prototype of pipes in Meerschaum, Olive wood, Arbutus wood but for many reasons I was not very satisfied with them.
During August 2008 when I started working some piece of Moorland Fossil Oak, I was almost sure that I was simply going to satisfy a new inquisitiveness; but after finishing them I felt in love with those pipes!! The grain of this kind of wood, if sandblasted, is very full of expressive character. After this consideration, together with the featured of the extreme lightness, I decided to put Moorland Fossil Oak pipes beside the most traditional production of briar pipes.
Q: When you make a pipe with Moorland Fossil Oak, are you using the same working process that you use to make a briar pipe?
A: Moorland Fossil Oak pipes are realized with the same processes, steps and techniques that I use to make my briar pipes.
The only difference is the way the wood is cutted: Moorland is very good if cutted with cross grain; briar allows many more variants.
Q: You are very famous for your super-thin Spaghetto shanks. Your long lovats and canadians are very popular all around the world, as well as your thin shanked rhodesian. Will you be able to offer such interesting and difficult to make shape in Moorland Fossil Oak wood?
A: Briar wood has a peculiar structure: veinings are placed side by side, very near, like a fascine; "accretion rings" are very close. The veinings and rings have the same consistence and strength. These features allow a special flexibility and (relative) resistence, which is proper to realize "Spaghetto shank".
You can easily test it:
take a toothpick and break it. Now take 10 toothpicks and group them like a fascine and try to break them.... it is not so easy.
The rings of Moorland Fossil Oak are placed more distant even if they are even more strong than the rest of the grain. With a very long shank, cutted as said cross grain, we will have a less strength structure.
To better understand the
layout of rings in Moorland we can imagine to make a 20 cm tall cylinder with cents coin, then enwrap it in a tissue paper. A solid rod, but if subject to twisting, it will easily break.
Said this, I will make Moorland Fossil Oak pipes with thin shanks, but with a reasonable length.
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