I picked up a nice eBay estate which arrived today and I am really surprised at the great lines and the workmanship. It is made by "random", which makes getting any substantial information of the interment a bit difficult (try googling random pipes). What I did find was a few articles on a controversial carver who didn't use his name.
Does anyone have any more details? Is he still carving? Are there any links to his other pipes?
Random was an interesting fellow, with some interesting ideas in pipe construction. His "shotgun" approach to airway design was that from bowl to button, the airway should have the same cross-sectional area if the pipe is going to smoke ideally. Can't really disagree, there, though I think the importance is a little overstated. (We've all got plenty of excellent smoking pipes that don't have ideal airways.) He also used interesting materials for his stems, including ultem, which is a nightmare to work with in the application.
At some point, he moved into the woods and got himself "off the grid." More power to him. I don't think he's making pipes anymore, but I could be mistaken. It's been a few years since I've heard from him. I will say that the one pipe I have by him is a fine smoker.
There's a
review on my site, written by Erwin van Hove, that you might find interesting.
