Mastro de Paja 0B Fatta a Mano Pesaro Bent Barrel Sitter Pipe, Rock-Like Sandblast, Acrylic Fishtail Stem, 9mm Filter

The smooth part of the shank is stamped Mastro de Paja in script, FATTA A MANO, a sun, Pesaro in script and 0B inside a circle, with ITALIA next to the metal band. This is a bent Mastro de Paja sitter from Pesaro: an uneven barrel bowl, not completely round but a little oval, under a really special rock-like sandblast, on a tapered amber-colored acrylic stem with a metal circle logo and a fishtail bit, made for a 9 mm filter.

It is listed as pre-smoked, and the chamber is clean apart from some dirt inside. There is a hairline crack at the end of the shank, starting under the metal band; it does not go through the shank. The close-up of the shank at the band shows it.

The house began in 1972, when Giancarlo Guidi, known as Pajetta, founded Mastro de Paja in Pesaro. Giannino Spadoni joined him shortly after, and the firm worked as Mastro de Paja di Guidi e Spadoni. The partnership broke in 1981. Guidi left and in 1982 founded Ser Jacopo together with Bruto Sordini, who later founded Don Carlos. Spadoni stayed on, but after financial trouble Terenzio Cecchini became the majority owner and director, and Spadoni then left as well to start his own firm.

In about 1983-84 Cecchini hired Alberto Montini, an accountant born in Pesaro who had worked at his uncle's firm from 1978 to 1983. Montini went from employee to administrator, then to partner, and became the sole owner after Cecchini's death. Under Montini the house made fewer pipes of higher quality and turned to export, reaching more than 40 countries. In 2017 its 45th-anniversary pipe was the Inter-Tabac Pipe of the Year.

THE MARKS
- Mastro de Paja in script, on the shank
- FATTA A MANO, on the shank
- A sun symbol, on the shank
- Pesaro in script, on the shank
- 0B inside a circle, on the shank
- ITALIA, on the shank next to the band
- A metal circle logo on the stem

Mastro de Paja grades its pipes by finish and grain, and uses grade stamps and size words instead of shape numbers. Its finish grades run from the rusticated 0B, also called 0B Unica, through the sandblasted 1B and the partial 2D to the colored and natural smooth grades. On the 1B, 2D and smooth grades, sun symbols added to the stamp mark steps of grain quality. This pipe's stamp shows 0B together with a sun symbol. FATTA A MANO is Italian for "made by hand". No size word, Media or Gigante, is stamped on it.

A barrel bowl has gently rounded walls, wider in the middle than at the rim and the base. Here the barrel is not uniform: it is not completely round but a little oval, and the pipe is a sitter, with a base it can stand on. The pipe is bent, and the tapered acrylic stem shows darker swirls through its amber color. It comes out of the shank behind a metal band and ends in a fishtail bit.

The rock-like blast covers the bowl and part of the shank. The part of the shank that carries the stamps is left smooth, and grain lines show in the briar there.

DATING
The Mastro de Paja name dates this pipe to 1972 or later, the year the house was founded. The founding partnership years, 1972-1981, are known by the company wording di Guidi e Spadoni, and that wording is not seen in this pipe's stamps. The marks do not narrow the date further than 1972 onward.

Condition: pre-smoked, with the hairline crack at the shank end described above.

THE MEASUREMENTS
- Length: 117 mm (4.61 in)
- Bowl height: 52 mm (2.05 in)
- Bowl width: 41 mm (1.61 in)
- Chamber diameter: 20 mm (0.79 in)
- Chamber depth: 44 mm (1.73 in)
- Weight: 47 g (1.66 oz)

Ships from the Faridunhill archive. Worldwide shipping. SKU: 633