Twelve And A Move

So in the mix of all the craziness that life has dealt in the last couple of months I have managed to finish pipe number twelve. To bring you all to date if you have not been following, the last couple of months have brought a new job for my wife which in return brought a move (in the process of) along with us anxiously expecting our first child this fall. Busy to say the least. My lovely wife began her new job almost three months ago and we have been traveling back and forth to spend the weekends together, fortunately it is only a two and a half hour drive. I in the mean time have been trying to tie things up at my job and help find my replacement while at the same time pondering the ever daunting task of getting our house ready to go on the market. Now if a new job, new city and new baby were not enough, lets throw in a new house to the mix! Yes we unsuspectingly stumbled upon a house that we fell in love with, two months later, countless head aches and miraculously coming up with the down payment we own a new house. I while soon give you a virtual blog tour of the new home but in the mean time my short description will have to suffice. It is about one mile out of the city limits of Buffalo Gap Texas sitting on roughly two acres. The location and property is awesome and added bonus of a shop already on site and a cool room above the garage that my wife says can be my indoor smoking lounge! Anyways enough of that, more to come so stay posted. As mentioned earlier I finished my twelfth pipe, a free hand dublin from a plateau with a lucite stem. This one was requested by my wife as a Fathers Day present for her dad. I am pretty happy with the results so check out the pics. And with that I leave you with promises of more pipe and pointless ramblings to come.

The Next Best Thing to Smoking a Pipe

Pipes are not the only thing that I love to smoke! Weather its a virginia, english, beef or pork, its all good! Must just be something about smoke that makes all the world right. Well, unless its that Shiner Bock Smokehaus beer, that was just wrong. Cheers to all things born of smoke!

Moving, Growing and Two New Pipes. 10 & 11

Just wanted to put up a quick post showing my newest two pipes, numbers ten and eleven. And Also posting a most shaky video update for my youtube friends, apparently my videoing while driving skills could use some help not to mention using my phone to record. So just cut me some slack and enjoy the new pipes and update on all that is going on in my life, unless your prone to motion sickness then turn away!

Events

One of the great perks of having a good tobacconist where you live is the hosting of "Events"! If you are not familiar with this occasion, it is when a producer, distributor or someone somehow involved in the tobacco industry host events at your tobacconist's store and give away free, discounted and promotional products along with food and beverages and a good time is had by all. That is it in a nutshell. These are things not to be missed if at all possible. Now unfortunately they are almost always for cigar companies. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good cigar but my heart is in the pipe. But that being said these events are a great time to enjoy good food, drinks and fellowship with your fellow smokers. A couple of days ago I went to the Miami Cigar Companies event at my local shop Smokers Haven. Had a great time hanging out with some really good friends, smoked some fine cigars and attempted to solve the problems of the world (which happens to be a common occurrence in such moments). All in all its was another delightful evening spent with good company at the smoke shop and oh ya I actually won a door prize! Door prize pic to follow.

Weekend Score

Greetings friends, I hope you are all well on this first day of spring. It actually rained here in west Texas today which is truly a blessing being that we have been in a severe drought for the last couple of years here. All of that aside, if you follow this blog you then defiantly know of my love for the old and nostalgic especially when it involves old pipe stuff. My wife and I often hit the area antique stores and where ever else we may come across some old eclectic piece that cries for a new home. This last weekend we drove to a small town about forty five miles from our home to explore the refuse of the past and to just get away for a few hours.
Now laying that foundation, I have been on the lookout for one of those old, simple pipe racks that sit on a table top with the glass humidor in the middle. I often come across them but usually they are in bad shape and have some sort of hideous decoration or at least don’t appeal to my eye. But last Saturday my luck changed and I stumbled upon a pristine condition, seven pipe, corner pipe rack made of walnut and sporting simple but refined, classic lines, the perfect addition for a room and not to mention giving seven of my pipes a proper nesting spot. Oh and also I left with a really old Velvet pipe tobacco tin that will also enjoy a new home in my smoking lair!

Pipes From the Abyss

Well after a couple of weeks bout with a fierce cold, I have a couple of new pipes finished to present to the world or at least the beloved few of you that follow this sporadic blog. And to all of you I say thanks. These two pipes will make my eighth and ninth to have completed. The ninth one, the bent Dublin, is by far the best quality one thus far. Not only was the piece of briar for this one superb quality with virtually no flaws, everything just seemed to work out wonderfully with it making for a great pipe. Each one is getting better as I learn from my previous mistakes and figure out new ways of doing things. So please take a look and leave your thoughts.

Stuck On A Plateau

In continuing my exploration into pipe making it was only a matter of time before I took aim at sinking my saws and other instrument of mass destruction into a seemingly pristine piece of plateau briar. Now one must understood the each and every piece of briar has its own unique and distinctive qualities that set it aside from the next. These distinctions give each piece of briar its character and grain patterns but also give rise to the dreaded flaws that haunt and perplex all pipe makers. Up to this point I have been mostly spared from the cursed flaws in the ebachuans that I have worked with but fate was soon to play his ill-gotten hand when I dropped the cash for some premium briar plateaus. When I cut into plateau number one I instantly discovered a large hole nearly an inch in diameter near the edge of the piece, thinking that this gargantuan flaw would quickly play out I cut a bit further into the chunk of briar only to discover it continued on, and on, and on. Plateau number one, after being reduced to nearly nothing, was tossed to the scrap pile. That makes me 0 for 1.
Number two started out quite differently. After getting around its odd dimensions to start with, everything seemed to fall nicely into place. I had picked a large green swirly Lucite stem and began to shape a jumbo freehand dublin. All was well until the final bits of shaping were taking place and then slowly, a few, so very small voids began to open in the wood as the tiny flaws pushed their ways to the surface of my sure to be master piece. The more I sanded the more feverishly they worked their way center stage to star on the surface of my precious hunk of briar. But not to give up without a fight I trudged on sanding and reworking till all but the most stubborn flaws had all but disappeared. That being said a strong plateau of briar is not one to be shown up and still had a few surprises of its own! As I began to do the final stages of sanding a large crater of a flaw emerged right smack dab in the middle of the gloriously glowing flamed straight grain. The size and placement led me to scout out it path and after a light bit of sanding in the bore there it stood, shooting straight through to the other side of the bowl. Now it was not nearly as pronounced on the inside but still it was there. I at this point almost tossed it the scrap pile but due to its good grains and well being almost completed, I finished it. Now a good formed cake inside the bowl from some thoughtful, gentle smoking could very well make a enough amends that it would be a good long time smoker…. but the fact remains that there does indeed exist a heart breaking flaw straight through the bowl of the briar. But never fear, for my father has valiantly offered to take possession of said pipe and with kid gloves give it a suitable home. What a man. So it’s off to face the next plateau directly in the eyes and sand it into submission.