By Kevin Godbee, Photos by Jon Rinaldi

During the annual Greater Kansas City Pipe & Tobacco Show there are several events within the event and a couple of competitions. One of the competitions is the obligatory slow smoking contest, and the other one is something that was started by the Greater Kansas City Pipe Club two years ago called the North American Pipe Carvers Competition.

Most pipe shows have raffles for 7-day pipe sets, but the Kansa City club wanted to do something a little different. For years, many of us in the pipe community have heard so many people rave about the unique, stylish, creative, high-quality pipes being made by the Danish artists. However, several collectors feel that the same type of quality and unique styles are also available from North American makers. Hence, the North American Pipe Carvers Competition.

This was the second year for the contest. A specific shape is chosen and the pipe makers are free to provide their own interpretations as long as they fulfill the basic requirements. This year’s shape was a panel pipe, defined as any pipe with two or more panels that could be convex, concave, flat, or fluted. It is defined in this manner to allow as much creativity as possible to the pipe makers.

Forty-two pipes were entered and then the judges chose the seven best pipes to be auctioned off. Pipe maker and wood craftsman, Anthony Harris of Acme Woodturning designed the extremely creative and attractive display case shown above. Pipe maker Jon Rinaldi painstakingly photographed all 42 pipes, which you can see below.

Judges Bill Schaffart, Tad Gage, and George Dibos chose the seven best pipes to make up a 7-day set.

Tickets were sold at $25 each with the proceeds going to the pipe makers that were included in the set. The Pipe Carvers in the seven day set were: Quinton Wells, Adam Davidson, Rad Davis, Jack Howell, Michael Parks, Joe Skoda, and Lee Von Erck. The winner of the 7-day set was Bobby Owens from Georgia.

Here are all 42 pipes in alphabetical order by maker. (Click on the pipes for a larger view.)

Adam Davidson	Al Perkowski	Andrew Marks
Andrew Peterson	Anthony Harris	Bob Davison
Bob Gilbert	Bob Hayes	Bob Swanson
Bruce Weaver	Clyde McIntyre	Colin Rigsby
David Neeb	Donald Kesling	Dru Melpoder
Eric Heberling	Horace DeJarnett	Jack Howell
Joe Nelson	Joe Skoda	Jon Rinaldi
Julius Vesz	Kevin Arthur	Lee Von Erck
Lyn Beyer	Mark Tinsky	Martin Hansen
Marty Sim	Michael Parks	Pete Prevost
Pipe Display Case	By Anthony Harris	Acme Woodturning
Premal Chheda	Quinton Wells	Rad Davis
Russ Cook	Scott Holtman	Scott Klein
Scott Thile	Steve Morrisette	Thomas James
Tim George	Tonni Nielsen	Will Purdy

Here is our full coverage of the 2011 Greater Kansas City Pipe & Tobacco Show.

Here are 35 photos strictly from the smoking tent at the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show.

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Photos from the 2010 Chicago Pipe Show

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Photos from Nat Sherman in New York City taken on November 13, 2009.

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Millicent Fenwick - grandmother, publisher, state senator - Pipe Smoker

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Here are the photos from the Richmond Pipe Show 2009.

Click on the images for a larger version and captions.

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Here are my photos from the IPCPR Show in New Orleans, August 10th & 11th, 2009. Actually, the first 5 photos are of the sun setting on Sunday, the 9th, from my hotel room window. You can see the Louisiana Superdome too.

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Here’s some photos of the city of New Orleans. These were taken on Sunday, August 9, 2009. I was in town for the IPCPR (International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers) Show. The show opens on Sunday, but they do not let the people on a “press pass” in until Monday. So I took the day to cruise around town.

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