Hand made, high grade, pipesmith, pipe maker, pipe carver, craftsmen, or artisan?

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I always liked "maker", but if someone choses artistan and I am interested, I will look. I am fairly visually influenced and can tell immediately if interested. Price, of course ,needs to be justifiable. It's important to consider how the thing feels. Most "artistian" pipe are too much for me, but thats why they make vanilla and chocolate.

 

[cigrmaster]

I go back and forth calling them artisans and carvers. Rad Davis once said he considered himself a craftsman.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Pipers usually buy a full set of pipes. Typically, they would run $800US and up depends on the ornamentation. Full silver mounted set could easily go well over $7000US. Those are sets of Great Highland Bagpipes. Uilleann pipes, on the other hand, usually purchased in steps. That's Irish for you.

Those who make these pipes are craftsman. Silversmiths are silversmiths.

Smoking pipes are made by completely different group of craftsmen.

Pipers originated in Scotland and Ireland, perhaps Wales as well. Now there are pipers everywhere, mostly wearing a Stuart plaid.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I usually just refer to them as "Goddamn insert name" after I cut yet another check to one of them.

 

[anotherbob]

Pipers originated in Scotland and Ireland, perhaps Wales as well. Now there are pipers everywhere, mostly wearing a Stuart plaid.

Bagpipes History | Origin of Bagpipes | Henderson's - https://www.hendersongroupltd.com/resources/history-of-bagpipes/ but the pipes themselves seem to come from else where.
Why because the world is always weirder and more complicated then our vision of it.

 

[Sonorisis]

There's two kinds of pipes: The ones that were made by the person who's name is on the pipe, and the others.

 

[karam]

There's two kinds of pipes: The ones that were made by the person who's name is on the pipe, and the others.

Just to pull our collective legs: there was a Mr Charles Peterson, Achille Savinelli, and Alfred Dunhill once upon a time. Maybe there wasn’t a Mr White Dot

Of course there were a Mr Ford, Citroen, Bugatti, Benz, Bosch etc etc etc too

I call them carvers.

 

[mso489]

If artisan means someone who carves and finishes pipes by hand and machine at a workbench, I think it is a useful word. It seems all pipes are handmade to a considerable degree, using some machines usually. I can't forget the people with artisan skills who work on the factory line. Whoever used to make the Dr. Grabow Royalton bent bulldogs was certainly an artist, and now he or she is apparently retired, departed from life, or gone into business for themselves. But a person working alone making pipes is certainly an artisan, even if they have the help of an apprentice, I think.

 

[Swede74]

Everyone is pipemaker, some are artisans?

 

[Bobby Bailey]

I much dislike the term "artisan". It is wildly overused.

I'm a Gunsmith, I do repairs and build some custom rifles. Craftsman fits very well,
I have a good friend that restores high five-figure and low six-figure English shotguns. He is an artist in what he does. I was once visiting him when a customer flew in from Germany to pick up a restored English 12 bore. The man raved about my friend being a "true artisan".
My friend replied, " Artisan, fartisan. I'm a craftsman and I do the work of a craftsman".

I think my friend said it well.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Everything mass produced has design as an element.

When a maker inserts some of their own aesthetics into a design, it definitely elevates the object above that of a tool.

The difference is in duplication. A table full of pipes all identical lets us know the differences without having to go into the factory/studio to see how their made.

I mean, most of us can tell the difference between a poster and a painting.

Some makers may be more akin to a craftsman, making really good tools (pipes), then there are mass produced pipes, but there are definitely artists out there making pipes also.

 

[saintpeter]

I use the vaguely similar terms of metal working. A blacksmith makes something from start to finish. A whitesmith adds on to something already made. Sadly it is next to impossible to get an agreement among pipe smokers on terminology. Hell, we can't even all agree on shapes or the fact that Carter Hall is the best tobacco ever made.

 

[didimauw]

I use the vaguely similar terms of metal working. A blacksmith makes something from start to finish. A whitesmith adds on to something already made. Sadly it is next to impossible to get an agreement among pipe smokers on terminology. Hell, we can't even all agree on shapes or the fact that Carter Hall is the best tobacco ever made.

Nah, people just won't admit it about the Carter Hall. But yet it's hard to find sometimes......people be buying that shit up like it's Christmas some days.....

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I use the vaguely similar terms of metal working. A blacksmith makes something from start to finish. A whitesmith adds on to something already made. Sadly it is next to impossible to get an agreement among pipe smokers on terminology. Hell, we can't even all agree on shapes or the fact that Carter Hall is the best tobacco ever made.

I've never heard the term "whitesmith," but to muddy it more, a goldsmith is anyone who makes jewelry with any metal. A silversmith is one who makes tableware or other functional items in any metal. And, a coppersmith makes cookware, even if it is stainless. But, since I feel a bit pretentious calling myself a goldsmith, even if I do use gold, I just use the term metalsmith, because I do make a lot of silver jewelry. But mostly I use the term "jewelry artist," since most of my work has a story behind it, and I feel like "artist" is less pretentious. But, I guess it depends on your background as to whether "artist," "artisan," or "artesian" sounds pretentious. If someone hates art or doesn't understand it, then... YMMV

 

[saintpeter]

I've never heard the term "whitesmith," but to muddy it more, a goldsmith is anyone who makes jewelry with any metal. A silversmith is one who makes tableware or other functional items in any metal. And, a coppersmith makes cookware, even if it is stainless. But, since I feel a bit pretentious calling myself a goldsmith, even if I do use gold, I just use the term metalsmith, because I do make a lot of silver jewelry. But mostly I use the term "jewelry artist," since most of my work has a story behind it, and I feel like "artist" is less pretentious. But, I guess it depends on your background as to whether "artist," "artisan," or "artesian" sounds pretentious. If someone hates art or doesn't understand it, then... YMMV

Not a term in use anymore, but then being my age, I was born way before the internet. I like the term artist.

 

[pipestud]

Thinking on it, I generally refer to the carvers as carvers, and the pipes as either artisan made or factory made. I almost never use the term "handmade" since there's quite a bit of machining involved with any pipe and the term is misleading. I'll use the term hand carved for stems shaped from rod stock, or for some pipes that have carving on them, like quaints. Sometimes I'll use the term hand shaped as that seems more accurate than handmade.

What sablebrush52 said.

 

[cramptholomew]

There is a lot of hand work that goes into any pipe. Stems, sanding, heck - I usually eschew my Foredom for hand files 99% of the time. I use machines for drilling, some turning (amount is relative to the shape I’m making), rough shaping, blasting, and buffing. I’d say, though, time-wise, the machine related part is probably 25% of the time spent with one pipe - for me.

Regarding “artisan”, etc., I think that word is used now to denote a product made by an individual from scratch, who has some some degree of chops to make something admirable. Has it lost its pedigree? Perhaps. “Virtuoso” would define someone so adept at their craft, as to be unparalleled. There is room for all those adjectives and nomenclatures among pipe makers as a whole, including “craftsman”. I generally use the term, “pipe maker”, because that’s what they do, and there is a degree of humility to the craft.

 

[Windknot]

I'm no artisan, but I did make this one out of pipestone I ordered from a guy in Pipestone, MN. First attempt at carving out of stone and making the pipe stem. I guess I've watched Dances with Wolves one too many times.

 

[wayneteipen]

Oddly enough, this topic was once debated on pipemakersforum.com several years ago. I think the consensus boiled down to the terms "craftsman" and "artisan." With craftsman describing one who crafts a pipe from scratch and artisan describing one who creates art. I suppose it depends on how creative the pipe is. I can say I've made more traditional shaped pipes that I don't consider all that artistic since art tends to describe making something new and unique. I've also made a handful of pipes that I would consider more artistic. For me, though, I've always been perfectly content with the term pipemaker.

 

[wayneteipen]

"Carver", on the other hand, makes the least sense to me since there really isn't a lot of actual wood carving involved in making a pipe depending on your definition of the word "carve." It's by no means offensive though.