Becker & Musicò
Paolo Becker, son of famed pipemaker Fritz Becker and Massimo Musicò, son of Giorgio Musicò, former manager of the famous Carmignani pipe shop in Rome, joined together in a pipe shop in 1990, and in 1995 began to make pipes together. The pipes were turned by Paolo on the lathe and finished by hand, and Massimo fit the mouthpieces and crafted spigots and silver bands to go with the pipes. Most were sandblasted, and approximately 2,000 pipes a year were made. The blasted pipes were stamped with "Five Years" denoting pipes made in 1995, and an additional number was added for each year, so that 5 years - 3 for example would refer to 1998. Smooth pipes were stamped with the years since 1990, so that a "6 years" pipe would have been made in 1996. The pipes were imported to the United States by R.D. Field, until 2002 when Becker returned to full time pipemaking under his own name. From 2002 on Becker & Musicò pipes were only sold in their shop, if at all.
Sadly, Paolo Becker died in 2014. Massimo Musicò continued to make pipes after the partnership ended under the Foundation name.
- Example and details, courtesy Doug Valitchka
