How to Smoke a Vegetable
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Kevin Godbee - Aug 8, 2012
- 17 min read
James Gilliam’s Hand-Crafted Squashed Tomato
Tom Spithaler
How a shape appears to a pipe-carver as they sit and stare at a raw block of briar is a mystery to many of us who are collectors and smokers. Perhaps not so much to the artisans that are actually doing the carving, but as for me, I’d be lost. Some people though, much like I have read about Michelangelo, see the finished product in the raw material before a hammer, file or chisel is set to the material. Michelangelo is quoted as having said to a contemporary, that it is not that he has to carve the figure out of the marble that stands before him, as much as it is to simply take off the material that he knows does not belong there.
To a pipe carver, they start with a blank slate of a briar block, with a seed started in their mind as to what the finished product is going to look like. For my mother, who has been a gardener all her life (in part by necessity in order to feed five growing children on an income that bordered on the poverty level most of our lives), she would look at an uncultivated piece of land and see vegetables. She’d see rows of carrots, bushels of potatoes, standing rows of corn, vines of pumpkins; squash, and zucchini filled her mind’s eye. On the other hand, what I saw was lots of rock-picking, weeding, watering, and pruning coming, not to mention the harvesting, cleaning, canning, etc that followed in the fall. Of course I never gave much thought to the enjoyment or nourishment I’d gain in eating the wonderful yield of my mother’s vision—but she did. This was her goal. You see she had the vision. I lacked it.
James Gilliam has vision too. Like my mom, he also sees tomatoes where there are none, and before his labor even begins, sees the finished product—in this case a beautiful Bent Squashed Tomato that looks like someone just hand-picked it. This tomato came delivered ready to enjoy. Unlike my mom’s garden, there would be no waiting to know how this tomato turned out.
I met James via the internet researching custom handmade pipe crafters. JSEC Handmade Pipes, the name of James’ endeavor, figures well in the minds of a great many people I am in regular contact with regarding the pipe industry. I wrote a short highlight on James and his pipes on my blog, and after a couple of email exchanges thought it was time to make the offer to review one his pipes here on Pipesmagazine.com. I am not sorry to have asked.
James gave me the choice of several pipes upon which to write this review. Of those suggested he had a couple of favorites, and I had one too. While his favorite was not my favorite, I felt comfortable that the pipe I chose, the beautiful Bent Squashed Tomato that you see here, met with my criteria: A pipe that represents the spirit of the carver’s work. Not necessarily the best pipe they’ve ever made that they want to show off to the Pipesmagazine.com readers, but a pipe that bears with it a bit of the spirit of the pipecrafter himself. James agreed that this was just one such pipe.
Interestingly, the tomato that I chose and will review here is the first one James ever made. When I contacted James about this review, I told him that I always ask the pipecrafters how they came to choose what that block of briar would become. Some carvers will let the briar lead them, and in some manner one always has to. But in this case, this pipe was destined for a vegetable debut.
"…frankly, that block was destined to be a tomato from the first time I picked it up in my delicate little hands. Seriously, I saw a Nanna Ivarsson on SmokingPipes.com and thought to myself…why not. I really enjoy making eggs and fish, if you look at most of the pipes I’ve made they are all a variant of those two shapes, except for this one and some of the works I’m doing right now. Just trying to expand my repertoire, and making a round bowl has always given me fits. After seeing Nanna’s I thought it was something that I could pull off."
James is a retired Cryptologic Technician (CTRC) from the US Navy. He has smoked pipes traveling from his hometown in the farms and oil fields of South and West Texas, and all over the world via the decks of Uncle Sam’s Navy. A forced need for repairs first got James involved in working on pipes, and it just seemed to evolve into making them from scratch. James puts it this way:
"There is nothing like a strong sea wind blowing through the starboard break (the smoke deck on my last ship) that causes your tobacco to burn just a little quicker than normal. Shortly after repairing several of my pipes I decided that if I can repair them I can also make them."
Travel the world he did, and make pipes he does. Apparently with equal fervor and success.
This pipe arrived without fanfare from the postal service in a non-descript white box. As I opened the box, the first thing I knew about James that I had not already known, is that he smokes Peterson pipes as well as his own. The Peterson box I returned to James, as it is a box for a pipe that has some sentimental value to him. All the same, he wanted to make sure the Tomato arrives safely, even if it meant sacrificing this box.
The Tomato was fastened inside what appears to be a hand-sewn satin sock of burgundy color. The sock has ornate stitching at the top in a navy blue tone with a knotted satin tie to match. The sock is of ample size, and the Tomato slides in and out with ease, as one would expect from a satin or nylon sock. This may seem trivial to be part of the review of a hand-crafted pipe, but few things bother me, or trouble other pipe collectors than a custom hand-made pipe delivered in a sock that doesn’t fit, or is of the quality that doesn’t match the pipe itself. I’m a big fan of leather, but the chemicals used to create leather can sometimes be harsh on a briar’s finish. While a satin sock is thin, and in and of itself offers little protection for the pipe from bumps and bruises, the pipe fits in it well, and when displayed on the sock ads a nice color match to the pipe itself.
My initial impressions were different than I anticipated. I was slightly taken aback. While the pipe looked absolutely beautiful in the images on James’ web-site, I was not ready for the severity of the contrast of the colors on the pipe. But I was glad!
The imagery on the JSEC web site is very good, but a 10 or 15 megapixel image does not translate well onto a 72dpi web based graphic. In the process of shrinking the size and lowering the contrast, some clarity and coloration is lost. Anyone who dabbles in digital imagery, works on web sites or blogs, or just simply posts pictures to Facebook surely knows what I am talking about.
The dark brown stain on the bowl area of the stummel wrapping around to the bottom is a very dark brown, almost walnut stain, albeit opaque enough to really show the outstanding flame-style grain. Where the bowl merges into the shank, this tomato is rather ornately fashioned. It is clearly a hand-carved ‘spade’ shape, and the color changes dramatically and sharply into a light mahogany that seems to be back-lit by a bright yellow. The transition in color is every bit as powerful and beautifully done as the transition of the bowl to the shank. It speaks of elegance, charm, and a patient appeal to the briar in order to coerce it into the shape that we see here. This is perhaps the one point on the pipe that most reveals the superb engineering and carving skills of James.
Moving up shank from the tomato shaped bowl, we run into some more interesting areas. The shank is just over a half inch in diameter, but grows as it travels away from the bowl and towards the stem. The gradual expansion in diameter does not detract from the pipe, or interrupt the flow as you scan one end to the other. As a matter of fact, it does just the opposite. It adds dramatically to the esthetics of the pipe most especially when you get to the end tipped in a bright boxwood ferrule with a black band as a foundation. In running my fingers around the end of the shank, the transition from the briar to the accent ring through to the boxwood is virtually imperceptible. If I use the tip of a fingernail, and move slowly, I can feel a slight nudge, but that’s it. The sanding and finish fitting of these separate and contrasting elements are fantastic. The boxwood really pops on the end of that expanding shank; what a great look!
The mortise is tight. Not too tight mind you, but tighter than some others that I have. However, this is not troubling to me in the least. I do, like most pipe smokers, desire to have a tighter mortise fit. The junction of the stem and the shank is one of the most important characteristics of any pipe when it comes to ‘smokeability’.
This tenon is unlike most that James makes. On this Bent Squashed Tomato, James chose to make a polyoxymethylene (also known by its DuPont name, Delrin®) insert for the German Ebonite stem. Delrin was specifically engineered to be used in parts and fittings that require close tolerances, high stiffness, low friction and excellent dimensional stability. Using it for pipe tenons is a perfect use for this material. When I asked James about it he responded:
"I don’t do this on many pipes. I saw a Wayne Teipen pipe with a Delrin insert and just wanted to try it out. Since this one I’ve done it for several other pipes. I have one morta blowfish that I’ve done it with and there are a few others. Honestly, I like the idea, but it doesn’t get too many positive reactions, I’ve shown it to some people over where I live and they look at me kind of confused and ask why? When I explain it I’m not sure it’s fully understood, and accepted with quiet resistance. In the future it is probably only something that will be done upon request or when a pipe is destined for my own pipe rack."
For me it is excellent, and I love it! As a matter of fact I have a pipe for myself that I’m will be commissioning soon, and part of my request is for a Delrin® insert. That’s how much I love it, and I owe James for making this one so good. Even though James may not be using Delrin regularly on production pipes, he doesn’t have to worry about explaining it to me. It provides the tighter fit I’m looking for, but with the viscosity of the delrin, a slight twist and out comes the stem. Of course, James would be foolish not to consider the customers opinions, and so he does by making this available upon request. While for me this is a progressive step forward in materials usage on modern pipes, tradition, especially in this hobby/industry runs thick as blood. Every writer and pipecrafter is wise to consider it. Well spoken Mr. Gilliam.
The stem itself is beautifully polished and smooth as glass. The button is squared off from the front, tall (akin to what some call a "grasping" bit), and yet very smooth and comfortable. The Tomato does not weigh a great deal, tipping the scales at a rather slight 51.75 grams. Personally, I found the Tomato to fit well in my mouth and it was quite comfortable. It is full bodied if based on the outside dimensions of the bowl alone, but not so heavy that it becomes uncomfortable hanging from your mouth for a minute or so with the tall button hooked on your most stable tooth.
The angle (roughly a ¼ bent pipe to begin with) is almost perfect when considering the curve in the mouthpiece. Hanging from my mouth it rests comfortable on my furry chin. So, that being said, if this pipe were not a comfortable fit for you, it’s nothing that 3 months worth of not shaving and a couple of extra cheeseburgers per week wouldn’t easily solve!
This pipe is not a mini by any stretch. I’d consider it a full-size pipe and yet far short of a jumbo. The pipe is 5.5" long, with the stummel measuring in a 3.5" itself. The bowl diameter checks in at .68", but we have to take into consideration a rather thick bowl coating that feels a lot like a 220 grit sanding paper. When I asked James about the bowl coating, he said,
"95% of all my pipes have bowl coatings. The bowl is still sanded out prior to coating, but I think it gives the pipe a more classic look.
Of course a commissioned pipe has the option of no coating. I’m really personally undecided as to the real benefit of the coating except for aesthetics. I know there is quite a bit of debate about to-or not to.
It’s not a private formula, just the way I was shown by a pipemaker close to where I live. I’m experimenting with getting it thinner, but the tomato was one of the first 10 or so pipes I actually coated, so it came out a little thicker."
I’m with James on this issue. I’m personally undecided as well as to the aesthetics of the bowl coating. I understand completely the intent for it being there; to add a protective coating to the briar to protect it from scorching until a layer of natural caking can be applied from the tobacco by regular smoking. But to me, and to many others, a raw bowl with the natural wood on display is a pleasant sight to behold as well.
I first smoked this pipe on a quiet Saturday afternoon. It was cool and overcast in the Great Northwest, in other words, just like every other day, and the perfect day for a pipe smoke. I chose for this occasion, a new blend from Cornell & Diehl, Burley Flake #3. A knife cut blend heavy on Burley (imagine that…), some Virginia and Perique. After a quick rub out of the cut C&D #3, I filled the bowl and lit it with a soft butane lighter that throws a large flame, but one that is not too hot or forceful. Two quick clicks later, and I had a flaming bowl of fresh tobacco wafting into the evening air.
The draw on the JSEC Squashed Tomato was soft, full and smooth. As I shared before, this little piece of vegetable art turned smoking pipe sat so nicely in my mouth. Not too heavy and very comfortable as a pipe for sitting and reading. The bit was yielding and felt natural in my lips and never felt like I needed to take the pipe put of my mouth between draws. It was just perfectly comfortable sitting there for as long as I liked.
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What happened next came completely natural and yet was revealing as to how much I really liked this pipe. As it turned out, I was at that moment not a fan of the C&D Burley #3.* It was robust and a little warm for an evening smoke. I finished that bowl, and filled it again almost immediately with the Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening blend which I knew to be a favorite relaxation blend if mine, and wa-lah! I was smoking my second bowl on this pipe in no time, and enjoying my evening supremely! |
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I enjoy seeing the pictures of JSEC pipes that James posts on forums and his web site typically resting by a British World War I ordnance fuse cap recovered from around Flanders Field in Ieper Belgium. As a former Infantry Soldier, I happen to like things that go ‘boom!’ To tie in the naval theme of his life into his pipes, James sometimes uses an anchor as a stamp along with his family’s initials. His son designed the two stamps a few years ago and each initial represents an individual of his family. This handsome and great smoking Squashed Tomato carries James’ alternative markings of a stylistic application of those initials. I asked James if this was indicative of any grading system, and he replied:
"No, I dabbled with grading for a while, based it on my two different stamps, but got tired of that… my "grading" experiment kind of waned and I normally use my two different stamps as I see fit. Since I was in the Navy for 20 years, the sea is kind of in my blood, so if I’m doing something really nautical I’ll use the stamp with the anchor on it, and vice versa if the pipe is more along the lines of something more elegant the other stamp is used."
With that knowledge in mind, one can derive from my opinion that I am in agreement with James. This is an elegant pipe, and a piece of art worthy of great praise. I am in the process of building a ‘pipe for every day of the week’ collection. I’m feeling like the Bent Squashed Tomato will become ‘Sunday’. Fancy enough for church, practical, and ready for a nice relaxing day. Grace in the art applied, and blessings to the smoker received – with great thanks.
As a result of thoroughly critiquing of this JSEC Bent Squashed Tomato and putting it to its intended use, I found the work of James Gilliam to be excellent! The pipe fits my hand perfectly, and is somewhat small for my normal pipe selection (See my Chubby Billiard review…), but does the job of a full size pipe like a boss. The briar chosen revealed no flaws, the grain is superb for the application, the staining work is stunning in choice and contrast, finish is smooth and polished perfectly, and the engineering is top-notch. There was nothing not to like. I find myself frequenting the JSEC on-line store to see what else one might gather into the fold. James creations sell in the $250-$350 price range, and are by my recollection worth every penny asked.
In life, to the chef the tomato is a rich vegetable that has great variety and versatility. My mom spent more time working on growing tomatoes than any other veggie in the garden. It has elegance on the vine, and is used to add flavor and color to a dish and to life. Some societies whole culture as it relates to food and fellowship revolve around tomatoes. Like those cultures, now that this Tomato has been ‘tasted’, I realize that it too adds great variety and versatility to my life. It is now hard to imagine life without it. Bon Appétit!
Tom Spithaler is an Award Winning PSEA writer and member of the American Press Association who has cut his professional teeth in the outdoor and firearms media. Tom currently operates Born Again Briar, a small pipe sale and restoration business, blogs at www.briarmeditations.blogspot.com, and operates Spithaler Media Services, a dba of Paraklete Consulting Services, LLC. A husband of 20 years and father of three, Tom currently resides in Bonney Lake, WA. Contact: tom@bornagainbriar.com. |
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 634! Our featured interview on tonight’s show is with Warren Ertle. Warren is an extremely accomplished musician with a PhD in music. He started early as a percussionist in sixth grade. Later his grandmother got him a cheap Casio keyboard which he taught himself to play. He started playing in blues bands in high school, and has been a pianist with jazz big bands for years. Even though he was already a professional musician, he took his first real piano lesson when he enrolled in college with his studies in classical music. He is of course a pipe smoker. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
Soon now, supposedly, our neighborhoods will shift from grinning pumpkins, skeletons in various assortments, and zombies dashing about to pretty reindeer, angels, and flashing lights illuminating homes with sparkling stars and laughing, scurrying Santas. But, lest we forget, there is the turkey season, fancy pie aromas wafting from kitchens, and a national pardon of a big Tom Turkey. Remember, now, that only one of these holiday personalities is a pipe smoker. And that is the hefty, bearded fellow in a bright red suit sitting in a sleigh with a herd of deer hitched up and ready to streak across the globe, bringing tidings of joy and many presents. Ok, the scene is set for the next couple of months, right? So, before we get too far off the beaten path, let’s just take a deep breath of fresh autumn air, shall we? Ahh. That’s better, isn’t it? What’s got the Pundit in a snit is not all the Halloween spooks who came a-jostling for candy. Or the wild turkeys gobbling in the backwoods or all the fuss and feathers over the big one—Christmas. No, it is that we might need to take note of all the little things that mean so much to us. Like a good sunrise (seriously, Pundit has not gone all Pollyanna.) Mayhaps we need to appreciate more of what we have than what we have not. Or something like that. Like, a good pipe in the morning with coffee as the dawn brings us coolish weather now that we have flipped the calendar to autumn. But it also brings beautiful leaves that have become a spectacle of technicolor in the wind. It is the little things. The rereading of an enjoyable book and finding something you did not see or learn in the first go-round. Or a stunning phrase you commit to memory with the re-read, while smoking that favorite pipe. And you notice a superior puff that just seems to be different. It’s in the air and the seasons of meaningful little things. It’s aromatic! Or perhaps it is that sense of satisfaction knowing and appreciating you made it to another day. With the world in a kind of rinse-and-repeat history, reminiscent of a Shakespearean play, it is perhaps a good moment to remember some of Pipedom’s philosophers whose cogent thoughts brought light to clear a path in the mists of confusion and confounding opinions. Ok. No gloom and doom. Just some down-home thoughts. Think of times in the past when history was running off the rails. It took our pipe-smoking thinkers (the mind workers of the world) to speak of better pathways to more light. Think for a moment, with a pipe in hand, these wizards of the world and word: Albert Einstein, J. R.R. Tolkien, Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edwin Hubble, Bertrand Russell, C. S. Lewis, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All learned and enlightened. They offered wisdom instead of storms of meaningless roads to nowhere. All while smoking their pipes! Maybe especially with the help of their pipes in the art of thinking and philosophy. Recall the words of Mr. E=MC2 when he said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” Amen and amen! Dealing with world-rattling events takes a calm and objective view of things, to the Pundit’s way of summing it up. You just don’t go messing around with quantum physics without a calm and objective approach, methinks. Or as the extraordinary physicist Robert Oppenheimer said after he and a team in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos Labs developed a way to split atoms into bombs during World War II. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” said Oppenheimer referring to the development of the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. It must be pointed out that Oppenheimer was more of a cigarette smoker than a pipe smoker. Nonetheless, pipes were part of his personality. Now, if you have read some of the great authors of the past and present, their pipes were always nearby. Reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can be a three-pipe problem at times. S. Lewis and Jean-Paul Sartre require time with your pipes to reflect on the existential problems and solutions these authors provide in learned novels and other narratives. Or take Edwin Hubble and Bertrand Russell, philosophers of another world. Pipes are required for reading. The quantum lode of ideas Pundit is attempting to sort out is that our pipes are relaxing and stimulate our thoughts and creativity. Especially in these last months of the year. Many times Pundit has had that light bulb flick on while smoking my beloved pipes. And friends in Pipedom, it ain’t easy to turn on the lights in Pundit’s rock pit head. Now it’s time for a quote from a Pipe Smoker of the Past. Shelby Foote was born Nov. 17, 1916, in Greenville, Miss., and died June 27, 2005, in Memphis, Tenn. A fact is not a truth until you love it—Shelby Foote. A parting thought: It is said that famed Southern author William Faulkner carried a packed pipe in a coat pocket wherever he went. That’s one effective way to deal with workday conflicts and confusion. A calm and objective judgment in our everyday human affairs, as the quantum man said.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 633. Our featured guest tonight is Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and the accompanying online store. We’ll have JD and Brian talking about what’s new at the store and in the business in general. At the top of the show, Brian will discuss tobacco growing, what happens to the leaf, and provide updated information on where tobacco is being gown today. Tobacco production originated in the United States and we were once the #1 producer. It’s quite different now.
Well there’s nothing like a touch of the plague to usher in the changing season. Leaving the airport just when the first advertisements for all things pumpkin spice began to appear—lattes, muffins, shampoos, trash bags, and myriad other concoctions—so, too, my ability to breathe freely disappeared. The unfortunate side effect of losing one’s sense of taste and smell for weeks is the utter inability to enjoy tobacco. Not that I consider myself an expert on anything but my own tastes, but be forewarned that this review was made with mildly impugned sensory equipment. Just when a comforting pipe was most needed, its comfort was denied. Be that as it may, the road to recovery found me limping along on one lung this past month, trying to wrest the particulars of two blends on offer from Sutliff: the latest 175th Anniversary blend, Silver Quarter, as well as their spooky seasonal Maple Shadows II. Silver Quarter is a new style on offer from Sutliff, their first coin-cut blend. Naturally a Virginia-Perique, it is enhanced with a traditional core of black Cavendish. In the tin it holds much promise, with a lightly bready and very woody, if ever-so-slightly sour, aroma. After some time acclimating to air, the bouquet softens further and offers hints of the burley with some chocolaty notes wafting through the more dominant dry grassy aspect. The tin art is of a coin-style bas-relief bust, presumably of a founding Sutliff brother, à la The Old Boss On the reverse of the tin we find the blend’s description: Reflecting on Sutliffs 175 years of tobacco excellence, we came across a brand that embodies true value, SILVER QUARTER. This name pays homage to Sutliffs roots, the legacy of two brothers who popularized pipe smoking in the burgeoning mining society of San Francisco. We celebrate this heritage with a coin cut composed of the finest African Virginias, complemented by a core of Perique and Black Cavendish. The tin notes are, forgive the pun, on the nose for a good VaPer blend: mild tart sweetness peeking out from behind dried hay and slight chocolate undertones, with a lightly tannic finish of weathered oak. It is always a joy to prepare a coin cut, my preference being to put a few in my palm and vigorously warm my hands together to fully break them apart. These well-formed discs pack and light easily, and smoke with little prodding to the end of the bowl. For technical points it scores well—it smokes light, and it’s easy to tend the ember. While it gets sharp after a few quick bowls, pacing should be heeded to easily smoke down to the heel without inviting bite. Of the flavor, though, I am left a bit wanting. There are tart and high notes aplenty, but very little of the lemony citrus I would anticipate, as well as scant midtones; they tend more toward the red wine-vinegary and sour. The flavors are muted, also, lacking the sweetness and piquancy of other marques—the small measure of Perique tickles the nose now and again with peppery hints, and there is a smidge of a deeper sweetness to be found in the Cavendish from puff to puff, but overall it lacks some dynamism. The Virginias, to my palate, come off a bit on the dry side, and here they dominate the blend. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are neutral, again evincing more of the dry, woody, tartly tannic end of the spectrum. The blend has plenty of polish, but not enough depth or richness (*yet) to make it a standout. Here, comparisons are inevitable: Luxury Bullseye Flake has more sweetness, both from its Virginia as well as its Cavendish, and a better finish; Davidoff is similar but with a pronounced umami that is absent here; as for Escudo, I haven’t had any fresh tins lately so it would be unfair to compare. While it rates as a solid, fairly mild smoke, particularly to lovers of the genre, it does not surprise with any exceptional flavors. To be fair, all the boxes have been checked for the blend to benefit from some real aging, and it would be worth checking in on this after a couple of years sealed away. I’ve set half my tin aside to sample again in a month or two, in case I’m merely suffering from the lingering effects of parosmia, and will amend this review in that case. Maple Shadows II, on the other hand, made up for the weeks of sniffling and sneezing I’d endured. Offered in a full 8 ounce tin with delightfully spooky Halloween art, it’s (hopefully) enough to last through the season. Somehow I had missed this last year, so it’s a real pleasure to get some in my candy bucket this year. As the chilling winds of autumn draw eerie prattle from contorted, deciduous limbs, we find ourselves possessed by the spirit of the season. Bewitched by a dissonant charm, we’ve created Maple Shadows. In a season that is defined by the unlikely harmony of treats and frights, we’ve joined the enchanting sweetness of maple with the earthy spice of Dark Fired Kentucky for a smoking experience that captures the senses with an otherworldly fusion of flavor. This may be the best aromatic blend Sutliff’s ever made—and they make a ton of them. First off, it’s not overbearing in the least—quite the opposite, it is also one of the more restrained aromatics they’ve ever made, with a clear but very light topping that melds oh-so-well with their choice Kentucky added to the mix. Opening the tin, the sweet maple is up front and center, but so too is the must of fallen leaves, bready pie crusts, and a crackling fire in the hearth—a perfect invocation of Herbstdüfte in a can. Packing best in an open and capacious bowl, the flavoring is subtle, and recedes to the background while puffing. With a sweet coffee or tea to accompany, the aftertaste of the maple is reinvigorated on the palate […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 632. Our featured guest on tonight’s show is the host of the Pipe & Tamper Podcast, Mike Murphy. Brian and Mike will have an extended chat revolving around the days before, during and after the Las Vegas International Pipe Show. We will hear about their travels to the show and the anxiety of Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida at the same time while running a show and not knowing if your house is going to be there when you get home. In the end, the show went great and our homes survived, although many others in Florida were not so lucky. We’ll have clips from the show, and shoutouts to other podcasts and vlogs that were broadcasting from the pipe show.
Vegas Baby The show started out strong on the 14th floor hospitality suites hosted by the Vegas Pipe Show and Smoking Pipes as well as room hopping to carvers, estate sellers, and vendors to pre-game for the festivities. If you’re interested in what that looks like I’ll refer you to last years pipe show round up. I circled with Brian Levine to get the totals in comparison to last year: This year’s show numbers: 108 Exhibitor tables, 445 attendees, 3,250 Raffle Tickets, 100ish dinners, 172 Rooms in the Hotel. Last year, by comparison, 107 exhibitor tables, 425 attendees, 2,200 raffle tickets, 104 dinners, and 175 rooms on Friday and Saturday nights. We were at capacity, basically, when it came to vendor tables and the dinner, so there is no physical room for growth at this point except for attendees. That said, we filled that smoking lounge to the brim. New Carvers Spotlight Garret Woo (Pipes by Woo) How long have you been carving? Garret: I’ve been carving since 2021, and I’m guessing your next question is probably how’d you get started carving? James: Yes. Garret: In 2021 I took a break from my full time job – that included machining and assembly work and I thought maybe it was time I made something that I would like and I started looking at youtube and Instagram and putting together my shop. I did struggle on the stems to start and there was a lot of failure at the beginning. James: How many pipes have you made so far? Garret: I number my pipes, so I just finished up 186. James: What is your favorite shape you’ve been making? Garret: I really dig Canadians and pipes with longer shanks and lovat Canadian blends. I like to play with different shapes of stems on the longer shanked pipes. The billiard would be my go-to shape but I want to learn more techniques on freehanded shapes. I like to put brass and copper adornments on my pipes with my machining background it helps. James: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen at this show? Garret: The first thing that comes to mind is the table over there with C-Pipes with the shapes and the size and petiteness and the intricate details they did. You can check out what Garret is working on by going to his Instagram. Stefan Cashwell James: how long have you been carving? Stefan: about 3 years. James: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at the show? Stefan: The Adam Davidson pipe with the clear shape and the bamboo—I don’t know if it’s 3D printed or what, but it’s amazing. James: What’s your favorite shape to do? Stefan: That’s a tough question. I think they’re all the same shape, but what’s fascinating is that Dublin, volcano, and blowfish are all the same depending on how you turn them. Playing with that, with all its variations, is a lot of fun. My favorite accent to use is also horn; it’s finicky, but it’s a great accent on pipes. You can check out Stefan’s work on his Instagram. Science: Meet Pipes I chatted with Chris from the San Diego Pipe Club; he started off doing stem replacements for estate pipes but also improved the airflow. James: How are you doing 3d printing? What is the thought process? Chris: It’s a 3D-printed pipe with a briar insert. The design is a calabash meets a Peterson system meets a metal Falcon/Kirsten radiator style. It is a bottom draft smoking bowl like a radiator like those metal pipes. The inside chamber is a calabash. The stummel and accent rings in the stems are all 3d printed. The insert is briar, olive wood, or I have the potential to use meerschaum as well. This idea came about through the San Diego Pipe Club, wanting to see if we could 3D print a pipe and being curious about the technology; I have a printer and design ability, so here we are. James: What’s the type of plastic you’re using? Chris: It’s all PLA plastic, a renewable potato starch plastic that is food-safe. The stummels are printed with a plastic that has wood in it 40% wood fiber, bamboo, rosewood, ebony, redwood, and walnut are the woods I’m printing. For the accent rings I just got a new material that I’m printing that has 40% copper, so its real metal that you can sand, and polish the same as wood filament. The stems are 3d printed as well. The concept is renewable and cheap from a production standpoint, with the ability to make a very high quality smoking pipe based on the experience. By combining the calabash system pipe and bottom draft hole and using 3d simulations to see airflow, I can see where I’m having eddies and ripples in my current, and see where my moisture and all the particles are dropping back out from a vapor to a liquid. Most people who have tried these say the stems are clean, and they don’t even have to run a pipe cleaner afterward because everything collects at the bottom. Chris has also been experimenting with color-changing plastics so you can see the hotspots. Chris said he was able to use this to slow down his cadence, which, of course, could mean you could get a slow-smoke training pipe to teach yourself to perform better. If you’re interested in learning more or want to check one out, you can contact him on Instagram: Copper Beard Pipe Works The Negative Space The show was buzzing about one specific pipe, which had everyone guessing how it was made. I chatted with Adam Davidson briefly about it. James: How did this idea come to fruition? Adam Davidson: Smokingpipes.com had an expo back in August open to all of the makers they carry. The theme was to make a pipe utilizing bamboo. Given that the last time we had the expo I made a smooth Almond with three bamboo shanks, […]
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Thanks for yet another wonderful article, Mr. Spithaler! It’s quite evident that, like me, you form a bond with the pipes you love — and this one brings a lot to the relationship. It was a most enjoyable read; and the photography is excellent.