Are you the guy they asked to list the five greatest living musicians last week?
Who is the Greatest Living Artisan Pipe Maker?
- Thread starter Mike N
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Are you the guy they asked to list the five greatest living musicians last week?
For my part I'm waiting to see what the five best replies are.
Half of Hollywood died here the other night - list ‘em and your resale will likely skyrocket!
If you like ‘em buy ‘em.
I’m only familiar with a few that I’ve commissioned from and the pipes are all great (that I’ve kept - one turned out butt ugly, lol, and never posted about it and won’t, okay can’t because I tossed it) - Rubio, @doug535, @cramptholomew, @Luiz Lavos all terrific in my book. And whomever carved my Meer - wow!
I’m only familiar with a few that I’ve commissioned from and the pipes are all great (that I’ve kept - one turned out butt ugly, lol, and never posted about it and won’t, okay can’t because I tossed it) - Rubio, @doug535, @cramptholomew, @Luiz Lavos all terrific in my book. And whomever carved my Meer - wow!
If one of y'all say Willie Nelson or Keith Richards, I'm going to have to turn off the internet and go sit in a corner for a while.
At the risk of kinda answering OP's question, I find it hard to enjoy super outlandish pipes. I'd own one, but I probably wouldn't smoke it.
I like artists that make pipes that look like pipes, but are just done exceptionally well. So for artisans, I gravitate to Ser Jacopo, Castello, etc.
I've been waiting on one of y'all to buy this Chris Askwith Devil Anse so I don't have to.
I like artists that make pipes that look like pipes, but are just done exceptionally well. So for artisans, I gravitate to Ser Jacopo, Castello, etc.
I've been waiting on one of y'all to buy this Chris Askwith Devil Anse so I don't have to.
Given there'll be no answer to the question that will satisfy over five, maybe ten people, this one is dead.
Just now saw this locked-then-unlocked thread.
Here's my take:
Without having a pipe in hand---and knowing exactly what you are looking at regarding points of mechanical design, the materials used, and construction techniques---any "best maker" decision you come to is based only on what a photo shows.
And that is visual-only information that is distorted by angles, views, lighting, distance, focal length, post-processing software, and so on. (Whether maliciously or not, doesn't matter. The laws of physics are in charge.)
Meaning pics aren't even enough to reliably judge flow and overall design.
Trust me. I headed the three-man judging panel that determined the winners of the top pipe carving contest in the world for a decade. What you SEE in a photo---more precisely what you THINK you see---is insufficient to determine much about anything beyond flow and overall design in a general way, and usually in an "intended to flatter and favor the subject" sort of way.
And that's just for starters. Without good execution and proper implementation, nothing else matters.
Here's my take:
Without having a pipe in hand---and knowing exactly what you are looking at regarding points of mechanical design, the materials used, and construction techniques---any "best maker" decision you come to is based only on what a photo shows.
And that is visual-only information that is distorted by angles, views, lighting, distance, focal length, post-processing software, and so on. (Whether maliciously or not, doesn't matter. The laws of physics are in charge.)
Meaning pics aren't even enough to reliably judge flow and overall design.
Trust me. I headed the three-man judging panel that determined the winners of the top pipe carving contest in the world for a decade. What you SEE in a photo---more precisely what you THINK you see---is insufficient to determine much about anything beyond flow and overall design in a general way, and usually in an "intended to flatter and favor the subject" sort of way.
And that's just for starters. Without good execution and proper implementation, nothing else matters.
Larry Roush and Trevor Talbert have been making very well engineered and unique pipes for many years. Neither of these carvers are "me-too", they carved / created their own styles. I own pipes from each of these carvers.
This sounds like the title of a YouTube video with 1mil views if you just replaced 'artisan pipe maker' with literally anything else.
And I'm not putting down anything on YT, lots of good content out there with relatively few views, and those that garner 1 million are relatively few and far between, so hope nobody is misunderstanding what I meant by the contrast!
hell I have some yt vids with that many views haha. If someone wants to take offense to your funny joke they're too damn sensitive.
I agree. While style and aesthetics can't be excluded from the criteria, we do need to take craftsmanship into it. I’ve got an artisan pipe that I absolutely adore and it looks perfect in photos but up close you can see where it could've been finished better.