Broken Pipe? Art Ruppelt (Ming Kahuna)

[mikestanley]

It would appear that a man I called Friend, Art Ruppelt, passed away in March of this year. I used to be a police officer in Solon, Ohio and became acquainted with Art when he and his lovely family lived there. He eventually moved to the Atlanta area but we
were friends on social media. Hadn't seen anything from him so I did the dreaded Google search...Obituary.
I don't have a great deal of time for the forums but I don't see anything mentioning Art's passing. A really good guy. A and rt was, of course, a pipesmoker, pipe maker and crafted some wonderful art in the form of Acrylic tampers.

Mike Stanley

 

[philobeddoe]

He did beautiful work, his tampers were lovely. Rest in Peace.

 

[mingc]

That is sad news. Art's tampers are quite beautiful and they were hot commodities before he slowed down. May he rest in peace.

 

[kcghost]

R.I.P. I bought a tamper from him a number of years ago. It is a beautiful tamper.

 

[daveinlax]

RIP Art! His tampers are never far from hand!

 

[mso489]

A hand-turned tamper is a refining touch for pipe smoking. Art left his legacy with fellow pipe smokers. Condolences to family and friends.

 

[AJL67]

May his memory be a blessing.

 

[peteguy]

Tamper owner - RIP. Love the tamper, btw.

 

[B.Fee]

RIP Art, condolences to his family.
Could some of you share pictures of his work ?

 

[daveinlax]

RIP Art, condolences to his family.
Could some of you share pictures of his work ?

Art’s tag-line was “Art That Work’s”. All his stuff was done freehand based on named shapes in named colors. I’m sure his Ming-Kauna web site or Facebook page is still around or on the way back machine.
From my collection.

 

[dino]

I enjoyed talking to Art at the Chicago Shows he attended in the 2000s. He was a very amiable guy.
May his memory be eternal.

 

[boston]

Too bad. Spent time with Art and friends 20 years back in Chicago. Pleasant guy, purchased one of his tampers. Sad he's gone.

 

[kwg116]

I had the pleasure of having a table close to Art at a Richmond show around 2008-ish and got to know him throughout the weekend. I was working for a retailer he didn’t really care for, but by the end of the weekend he gave me one of his tampers as a friendly gesture for our weekend of conversation. He was a very smart, thoughtful man that didn’t take any bs. RIP Art.

 

[stogie37]

Ahh… so sad to hear. I’ve owned number of Art’s tampers and used to chat with him at the NASPC shows in Columbus. Oddly enough, I found his tampers too beautiful to use! (Well, I eventually used one) They would easily clean up to look like new, but I preferred to set a Ming out to look at while I smoked and tamped with a .99c aluminum nail / so non-sensical. Thank you for sharing this news, sad as it is.

 

[rruppelt]

I just happened to come across this. I guess the internet is sometimes smaller than we realize. I’m Art’s wife. In January, we leaned that Art had a recurrence of colon cancer that was originally diagnosed in late 2019. He passed away on March 4th.

So nice to read all the kind words from all of you. The pipe world meant to much to him.

Our first grandchild, a boy, was born just a few weeks before passed away. Casey, the light of Art’s life, was able to get to town with her husband and son just a few hours before Art was gone. We know in our hearts that he knew they were there.

We were going to be relocating to be closer to the kids. I’m going to be doing that on my own now. It’s a wonderful blessing and we know that Art is watching over us.

Ronna

 

[mingc]

I just happened to come across this. I guess the internet is sometimes smaller than we realize. I’m Art’s wife. In January, we leaned that Art had a recurrence of colon cancer that was originally diagnosed in late 2019. He passed away on March 4th.

So nice to read all the kind words from all of you. The pipe world meant to much to him.

Our first grandchild, a boy, was born just a few weeks before passed away. Casey, the light of Art’s life, was able to get to town with her husband and son just a few hours before Art was gone. We know in our hearts that he knew they were there.

We were going to be relocating to be closer to the kids. I’m going to be doing that on my own now. It’s a wonderful blessing and we know that Art is watching over us.

Ronna

My deepest condolences to you and your family.

 

[lraisch]

I am fortunate to have two of Art's tampers. I only conversed with him once or twice but I knew instantly that he was a gracious and amiable man as well as a talented artist.

 

[OverMountain]

A great artist. Our condolences. Safe travels during the move and enjoy that wonderful grandchild!

 

[warren99]

He did beautiful work. I own two of his tampers as well. I’m very sorry to hear of his passing.