Mastro de Paja

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The genesis of Mastro de Paja is one of the most peculiar ones in pipe history. Mastro de Paja was brought into being by a "consortium" of passionate pipe smokers, who had rallied around Terenzio Cecchini. They felt bitterly unhappy observing the general decline of the Italian and the rapid ascent of the Danish pipe in the 1960s and to beard this they set their mind on creating an "all-new and great" Italian pipe brand for high-value pipes. After all, a very patriotic and honorably intention. All these gentlemen were successful, well, wealthy to rich businessmen, but none of them possessed any knowledge about pipe making or experienced in the pipe business. Finally, this circle of amici elected Cecchini to be the CEO and left it to him to find a suitable pipe expert and get pipe fabrication started. Cecchini began to search and in 1970 he bumped into Giancarlo Guidi.

At that point Guidi was unkown. He started making his own pipes as a pure autodidact while a student of fine arts and design. Afterwards he couldn't find employment in the arts, so he decided to live on his talent as a pipe maker. Equipped with a band saw, sanding disk and belt sander -- all age-worn and no longer very dependable -- he succeeded, after a fashion. Guidi yielded to persuasion and joined the adventurous project. The foundation of the company was established and the amici provided some money. Cecchini was responsible for the management and Guidi, entering as a partner not just an employee, was appointed director of production. One more year passed, and in 1972 a workshop was finally furnished in Pesaro, almost exactly half way between Rome and Venice on the Adriatic sea. Pipe production could begin!

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In spite of this crazy origin, Mastro de Paja became the nucleus of the pipe center Pesaro and what is today called the Pesaro school, boasting many famous brands such as Il Ceppo, Ser Jacopo, Don Carlos, Rinaldo, Le Nuvole and L'Anatra. Giancarlo Guidi became the foster-father of all these pipe makers - certainly not his least merit!

Guidi put himself to work with ardor, yet he was far from being an experienced, seasoned, or famous pipe maker. He worked eagerly on his own pipes and their continual improvement. Beside that, Guidi was well underway to finding and winning young, promising talent. He would prove to be a golden boy as a metier. His first big haul was Bruto Sordini (today Don Carlos) in 1974. Sordini remained at Mastro de Paja until 1979. Likewise in 1974 Guidi hired two 16 and 14 year old boys from Sicily. The brothers, Elio and Guido Rinaldo, quickly demonstrated high talent with a fine sense of design. They left in 1987 to work independently.

In the effort to find an international distributor for the young brand, Guidi went to the most influential distributor Alberto Paronelli in Gavirate. Paronelli turned him down right away. Guidi then approached Ital Impacs in 1975, founded just shortly before by Wojciech Lubinski and his son Mario after Lubinski sen. had split from Paronelli. Mario Lubinski would later recall Guidi had brought with him 12 system pipes he had personally designed and carved, “They were horrible pipes. Very wet smoking pipes!” The Lubinskis at first turned him down as well, even though they perceived Guidi’s potential talent. One year later Wojciech Lubinski retired and Ital Impacs was transformed to Lubinski Limited with Mario as CEO. Giancarlo Guidi changed to more normal engineering and Lubinski Ltd. gave him a chance, starting distribution Mastro de Paja pipes in 1976.

The pipes keept improving and growing in popularity. Mastro de Paja became an important part of Lubinki’s portfolio. However that business relationship lasted only four years. A sales rep of Lubinski allied with Giancarlo Guidi and they went their own way. (Was Giannino Spadoni – see below!)

Also in 1976, Giorgio Imperatori came to Mastro de Paja. He was an architect by profession, enthralled with pipes and determined to become a pipemaker. But at Mastro de Paja he was only allowed to work on mouth pieces. Being a pipe-parts maker was not enough to satisfy his ambitions. He left at the end of 1977 and started his own brand Il Ceppo in 1978 with a lot of support from Mario Lubinski.

In 1977 Guidi looked for a skilled metal worker. After examining some candidates he hired Massimo Palazzi (today L'Anatra), who was educated as a goldsmith. The outstanding quality of Palazzi’s metal work gave new impulses to the pipes. Palazzi specialized in design work and his courage to create fresh yet harmoniously easy shapes, stirred a noticeably growing demand for Mastro de Paja pipes.

Maurizio Tombari (today Le Nuvole) arrived in 1978; he would also follow Guidi to Ser Jacopo. Around 1980 Guidi engaged some more seasoned craftsmen, namely Mario Pascucci and Vittorio del Vecchio, both bedrocks of Mastro de Paja today.

Without doubt the brand had taken a quite pleasant development that led slowly and steadily upwards and found increasing international recognition. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen quickly enough for some of the amici. From about 1980 on, Cecchini and Guidi found themselves involved in numerous fights about the future course of the business. Meanwhile among the pipe makers, jealousy and dissension ruled the day. They were aware that the early success and fame of the brand was based on their hard work, but they hadn’t benefited. While the financiers behind Cecchini felt disappointed by their profit. There wasn’t much left of the foundation’s idea and it’s noble spirit! Cecchini awkwardly trimmed the firm unilaterally on increased output. Quality faltered and Mastro de Paja was in serious crisis during the early 1980s. At the same time generally declining pipe sales in Italy amplified the problems.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Guidi had acquired a good name for his craftsmanship. Tired of the permanent quarreling, he and Bruto Sordini left to start Ser Jacopo dalla Gemma. Guidi’s motto "per aspera ad astra (through hardships to the stars)" is surely coined by his experiences at Mastro de Paja. Ib 1984 Massimo Palazzi also moved to Guidi’s new brand. The firm had lost it’s best and most important pipe makers.

In this situation Giannino Spadoni, an Italian businessman already commercially connected with Mastro de Paja, became something of a sheet anchor for the beleaguered company. Starting around 1982 he had the highly esteemed design pipe, Fiamma di Re, manufactured by Mastro de Paja. Additionally the Contessa, a favorable bargain pipe, was also made for him. The Fiamma di Re quietly disappeared in 1989. Since 1990 Spadoni has been distributor for Dunhill in Italy.

By the end of 1983 the last of the amici had withdrawn. Terenzio Cecchini, now exclusive proprietor of Mastro de Paja, sought help and a friend drew his attention to the young sales talent Alberto Montini. After finishing his studies in 1978, Montini started a career as an accountant and had quickly achieved a position as manager of a prosperous firm for office arrangements. After long and careful negotiations, Montini finally agreed to take over the management of Mastro de Paja in 1985. His entrance proved to be the begining of a new era!

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First of all, Montini spoke a clear "Basta! (Enough!)" to the smoldering quarrels in the workshop. Being completely new to pipemaking, he was otherwise smart enough to seek a close collaboration with seasoned pipe makers Mario Pascucci, who became responsible for future design work, and Vittorio del Vecchio, who headed the workshop. Montini reduced the swollen output and implemented closer quality control, focusing more closely on quality rather over quantity. But most importantly, he introduced a new management style that helped everyone in the organization fell like they were members of a big family whose personal contribution was appreciated and important to the goal of common prosperarity. Montini himself did hard work and wasn’t afraid to perform as the general dogsbody in the workshop if worst came to worst. The new Signora, Montini’s wife Cinzia, also worked on the workshop floor, and can still be found today at the sanding or finishing stations.

Montini went on uncounted endless business trips to refocus the company in Europe and overseas. He even visited very small tobacco shops in remote places and strove to connect with pipe smokers to re-introduce the renewed Mastro de Paja to them. Sociable and capable, he convinced and enthused people. His innate talent for business and marketing brought the brand gradually back on a course to success. Cecchini was wise enough by now to stay in the background and did not interfere in Montini’s commercial decisions. In appreciation of his merits he made him a partner. Following a few years of success after Montini’s entrance, Cecchini withdrew. (An Italian pipefriend who knew him from the wholesale business mentioned Cecchini and two of his friends went aboard his sailing yacht to cruise the Mediterranean Sea for the rest of their days.) After considerable wrangling with his heirs, Alberto Montini finally secured complete ownership of Mastro de Paja in 1995. Today a line of seconds, Montini Pipes, is named for him.

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Two more important characters to mention: Franco Rossi (later Giorgio Imperatori’s brother-in-law and today Il Ceppo) learned the art of pipe making for a time at Mastro de Paja after a serious injury had put an end to his career as a professional soccer player. He went on to Ser Jacopo and Don Carlos afterwards. Andrea Pascucci, Mario’s son, who was born in 1966 in Pesaro, learned the business from 1989 on. He joined Ser Jacopo in 1994 and today he’s Massimo Palazzi’s partner at L' anatra.

Shortly after 2000 there must have been a little trouble again. Especially pipe smokers in Germany complained about pipes showing considerable imperfections of engineering. But this time Mastro was obviously able to solve it’s problems quick and efficiently. Nevertheless Mastro de Paja still holds a secured rank in the studded Italian middle class. The pipes truly exhibit the neoclassical flair of their Pesaro heritage, but tend to err on the more classical side compared to some other brands. This might be the reason why quite a few pipefriends favour the elder pipes made under the aegis of Guidi.

Regardless, Mastro de Paja manages to produce excellent Italian pipes related to their reasonable prices. The stems are usually made of Acryl and predominantly designed for employing filters. Incidental are the costly silver trimmings of many models. The higher qualities show up to 3 sun symbols made of silver. In the lower, a smooth disk must suffice. Grading:

  • Code 0A - 0C for rusticated,
  • Code 1A - 1C for sandblasted,
  • Code 2A - 2D for smooth pipes and
  • Code 3A - 3C for straight grains.
  • Exceptional individual pieces are called Unique or Fiammata.

The most important buyers for appr. 7.000 to 8.000 annually manufactured pipes are the USA, Italy and Germany. Beside pipes Mastro de Paja also offers a range of other objects manufactured from noble woods since the middle of the 1980s.

An excellent selection of Mastro de Paja pipes is available at Pipedia underwriter, lepipe.it

Contact Information:

Mastro de Paja
Via Liguria 30
IT - 61100 Pesaro
E-mail
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