Foundation

Massimo Musicò began producing Foundation brand pipes after the end of the Becker & Musicò pipes, with pipes made by Gian Gamboni, Flavio Benucci, and Fabio Marchese. They were largely sold only through the Musicò pipe shop in Rome. Musicò also collaborated with master blender Hans Wiedemann from HU Tobacco to produce the Foundation by Musicò pipe tobacco line. Foundation pipes were priced, according to the Musicòs, not in relation to their pipemaking experience, but only the raw cost of materials and the cost of labor, showing an intent to provide a quality pipe at a fair price.

In 2005, the Musicòs changed the line of pipes from Foundation to Foundation Club, and numbered each pipe with two digits showing the number of years since the 2005 founding of the line and a 5 denoting that 2005 date, with the intention to change to 3 digits, i.e. 105, in 2015 on the tenth anniversary of the line. The pipes also bear the initials of the designer, either GM, MM, FM, FL, or others.

The Becker & Musicò pipe shop was located at Via S. Vincenzo 29, Rome, just off the square from the crowds at the Trevi Fountain. The shop has been closed (for a couple of years), and now Giorgio Musicò (Massimo's son) has moved to Ivrea (TO) in the north of Italy to stay with his parents. He likely has a workshop there, but apparently nobody knows where it is.

• Examples of Foundation pipes, courtesy Smokingpipes.com
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