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Brand Dating Guides
Mastro de Paja began in Pesaro in 1972. Its stamps grade the pipe, they do not give a year.
Updated 2026-10-28
Welcome. This guide helps you place a pipe from the Pesaro workshop Mastro de Paja.
The firm began in 1972. Its stamps tell you the finish, the grain and the metal work.
They do not tell you the year. So the windows below are wide.
Each rule has a rank: high, medium or low.
1972
In 1972 Giancarlo Guidi founded the workshop in Pesaro, Italy.
Friends called him Pajetta because of his curly hair. That is where De Paja comes from.
Giannino Spadoni joined him soon after. The firm then read Mastro de Paja di Guidi e Spadoni.
1981
The owners are the best dating spine we have.
In 1981 Guidi and Spadoni parted. Guidi left and founded Ser Jacopo in 1982.
Spadoni stayed for a short time. Money trouble followed.
Terenzio Cecchini of Pesaro then became the main owner and director. Spadoni left too.
Around 1983 or 1984 Cecchini hired Alberto Montini, an accountant born in Pesaro.
Montini later became sole owner. He cut output and raised quality.
When he arrived, the firm held about 10,000 pipes in stock. Almost all sales were in Italy.
Today most pipes go abroad, about 2,000 a year.
All stamps are fire-branded. The brand name is Mastro de Paja.
The grade stamps describe the finish. 0B is fully rusticated. 1B is sandblasted.
2D is smooth with small rusticated parts. Ruber, Castanea and 3A are coloured smooth pipes.
3B and 3C are smooth with natural finish. F is straight grain.
Sun symbols step up the grain quality. One, two or three suns may follow the grade.
The letters P, N, L, S and G mark the metal work.
P is Personal, with fine ornament. N is Normal, with basic sterling silver.
L is Lavorata, with more complex silver. S is Special, with elaborate silver.
G is Gold, with gold ornament.
Media and Gigante give the size.
The firm sorts its pipes into Limited Edition, Elite Collection and Classica Collection.
Limited Edition pipes are numbered pieces made for a special event.
Elite pipes are made wholly by hand. Classica pipes are the everyday line.
The 45th anniversary pipe of 2017 won Pipe of the Year at Inter-Tabac in Dortmund.
An anniversary pipe dates itself from its own edition.
We found no shape numbers for this maker.
Identification rests on the grade stamp, the size word and the suns.
So a shape cannot give you a year.
A grade stamp such as 1B or 3C is not a date. It was used across many years.
Suns grade the grain. They do not mark the decade.
Do not date a pipe to the Guidi years by its look alone.
Mastro Geppetto pipes were made by Ser Jacopo. Do not read them as Mastro de Paja.
Only the words Guidi e Spadoni point to the founding partnership.
Each row comes from our Mastro de Paja cabinet.
MASTRO DE PAJA lettering
The firm was founded in 1972 and still works. The split between the Guidi years and the Montini years is not marked on the stamp.
“di Guidi e Spadoni” wording
This is the name of the founding partnership. Guidi left in 1981.
What We Don't Know Yet
Published deliberately. If you hold the catalogue, hallmarked example, or period document that closes one of these gaps, write to us — corrections are credited. Every open question across the encyclopedia is gathered on the Open Questions page.
Changelog
Sources
Holding a Mastro de Pajayou can't place? Our shelves usually hold a few — documented to this same standard.
Mastro de Paja in the Shop