Though other artisan pipemakers have picked up strawberry wood enough to produce pipes in it here and there, Paolo Becker is one of the few to really make the distinct and striking texture of this medium a part of his repertoire. While the idea of a strawberry wood pipe may have begun with someone looking for a substitute of briar, in the hands of someone like Paolo, it can take on a life all its own, the deeper, wilder grain it displays in a sandblast imbuing a design in which it is used, like this big, broad, muscular Acorn, a perfect finishing element.
- Eric N. Squires
