In Celebration of Briar Calendar by G.L. Pease Now Available
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Kevin Godbee - Oct 22, 2009
- 2 min read
G.L. Pease is the brand of many pipe smokers favorite blends; such as Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, Westminster and the newest, Chelsea Morning. The man behind the blends, Greg Pease talked to us about his new 2010 calendar which includes stunning photography of pipes.
The calendar is named, "In Celebration of Briar". It falls into the collector’s item category as the production is limited and quality is high. We had a brief conversation with Greg about his new calendar.
PipesMagazine.com: What inspired the original calendar and how was it distributed?
Greg Pease: My love of pipes inspired it! I’ve been collecting for almost 30 years, and have always had a real passion for the things. I’ve been a photographer since I was about 8, and the convergence of these two aspects of my life was inevitable. I do all the product shots for G.L. Pease, and one day, after photographing "yet another tin of tobacco," I began to explore doing some B&W art shots of pipes. I was hooked.
The first calendar came about in 2006. I’d wanted to do this for a while, but production and publishing costs for something with such a limited audience made conventional printing impractical. One day, a dear friend of mine who really supported the idea, sent me a link to Lulu Press, "gently" suggesting that it would be a good way to do this. ( Basically, "Just get off your butt and do it, Greg. You have no excuse now.") It was already October, so I hustled to assemble the twelve interior photos, shoot and design the cover, and get the images off to Lulu to go to press. That was the beginning.
Lulu is great. They handle production and order fulfillment using a digital Print-on-Demand process. The cost is higher than doing it offset, but the quantities required for traditional printing to be practical are huge. With PoD, there’s no worry about having to recycle hundreds of leftover calendars. And, with them doing the fulfillment, I don’t have to have boxes of the things all over the house.
PipesMagazine.com: Are these all your personally owned pipes in the photographs?
Greg: The first two years, all the pipes were from my collection. For 2009 and 2010, though, I opened it up a bit, and shot some pieces on-loan from a couple of pipe makers whose work I really like. In some cases, the pipes had already been sold, but their new owners were happy to cooperate with the project. I don’t know what I’ll do for 2011, yet, but will probably continue doing more pieces that are not in my own collection.
PipesMagazine.com: Are autographed versions available?
Greg: Not really. Since Lulu does the printing and shipping, there’s no way for me to get my hands on the things before they’re winging their way to the customer. However, I’m always happy to sign them at shows and so on.
PipesMagazine.com: When is your birthday so we can mark it on your calendar?
19th April. Send presents. đ
You can see the pictures from the calendar here: http://www.glpease.com/Calendar/
You can purchase it here: Lulu.com
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Wow — that’s cool. Having access to Mr. Pease, I mean, for an interview!
The calendar is cool too. Funny, last time I was at his site, a few days ago, I was thinking of getting it for myself. I’m nudged a little closer… Do you know if he’ll run a few off to make them available at B&Ms? I’m going to Cup O’ Joes around thanksgiving for my semi-annual pilgrimage and it would be nice if they had it.
BTW, I have a friend who published a book at Lulu. She loves it for the same reasons as Mr. Pease.
As far as I know Greg will not be having any of them made for B&M’s.
You can only purchase them through Lulu.
Pease worship always amusing. Autographs? Some folks need to get out more. Cheers on site though. Pipe show reports appreciated.
I’m not sure about Pease worship. I admire a guy who IMO is a master blender, and he also has boundless enthusiasm for pipe and tobacco history and culture. Damn good photographer as well.
Another stellar interview.