What Does "Hand Made" Mean?

[jpmcwjr]

OK, well, I did say some 19th C pipes.... And clays were made in molds by hand! The molds were hand cut, and the clay was inserted by hand, molds opened by hand, kilned by hand, removed, inspected, packed and shipped by hand....
Yeah, you got me on lathes, but I submit that a hand or foot powered lathe - even water drive or animals- the work on it was done by hand.

 

[dottiewarden]

I just took delivery of an estate pipe from Europe. The darn thing was held up in customs all last week with lots of back and forth questioning of what “it” was. I finally said it was a handmade pipe similar to what a “grandpa” would smoke and they let it through. So in this obscure example I literally used the phrase “hand made” and it made a difference.

Neal makes an interesting point. Such product descriptions could make a difference on duties paid.
Most of my Chacom pipes are stamped "HAND CUT" on the stem.

 

[crashthegrey]

I have made pipes with nothing but a pocket knife and a file (minus drilling of course). I have made pipes using a lathe. You are nuts to not use power. Thus, I agree, hand shaped is a nice term. And yes, Cosmic, Nording makes a great pipe whether it is handmade or not.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'll be the first anytime to my feet to give Nording a "hip hip hurray." But, there are lots of great pipes out there.
And, I totally agree with Sykes. Things like hand cut, one of a kind, and designed by... make more sense to me, and would add value to the words.

If we only knew one of the world's greatest retailers, middle man, someone who has met these pipemakers, someone who knows the market, all of the ins and outs of the whole pipe market... someone with the top name in US pipe retail... someone with a toe hold on the European market... someone who could make that happen... ::

 

[crashthegrey]

Well, if this forum can single handedly convince the pipe world that Prince Albert is dead, maybe we can kill the term "handmade" as well. 8)

 

[saltedplug]

I believe it was Marty Pulvers who commented that Safferling was such a purist that he shaped only using rasps and files, and that this is illustrative of his disregard for the commercial overall.

 

[kola]

I see "hand made" meaning a pipe made without the use of a fraizing machine (think "extra large router bit") and where the stems are created from scratch.
Using lathes, griding discs, files, etc to hand-shape the stummels and making stems fom a stick of plastic or rubber IMO is handmade to me.
IMO most of the larger factory pipes are not handmade at all. Fraizing off a few thousands stummels and popping in a to-go stem doesn't seem very handmade to me. Individual one-man-show carvers are most often the guys doing it "homemade."
**ever sure if it's spelled homemade or home-made or home made.

 

[mso489]

Many carvers of entirely hand made pipes don't stamp them that way, I realize after reading the responses on this thread. However, I'll say from watching a good Dr. Grabow video about their factory, which makes undeniably factory-made pipes, a lot of hand work goes into it. The shaping on their Royalton bulldog illustrates this. That said, neither the late Bob Hayes nor Jerry Perry, N.C. pipe carvers, stamp their pipes hand made, but Les Wood does, and his pipes are hand made.

 

[bpftc]

I believe Dunhill uses the term HT or “Hand Turned,” which probably means it was made on a machine lathe but with hand chisels rather than a CNC Machine.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Hand Made" to me suggests no two 'Hand Made' pipes would be exactly the same.
Of course different manufacturers use the term just as it suits them with little or no regard to its actual meaning.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[mso489]

If I recall, Luciano used to say theirs were hand-finished, so part machine and part not. Johs (Mogen Johansen) turns his own bowls but may use some pre-formed stems, though I don't really know. But his pipes have a hand made dimension to them. He turns out quite a volume. So the stamp is indeterminate in meaning, but in some cases, it really means the pipes are hand made, as with Les Wood.

 

[woodsroad]

Hand Made means just about anything, and therefor, pretty much nothing.

 

[cigrmaster]

The only true hand made pipes are the ones that are polished on the thighs of virgins.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

^The Hand Made’s Tale? ::

 

[jpmcwjr]

Or the Handmaid's tail.....

 

[mawnansmiff]

Or the Handmaid's stale..... ::
Regards,
Jay.