News & Featured Pipes

Hi folks, as most of you know I am back from my trip to Europe and back in my workshop busy carving away again and working on these back orders which accumulated while I was troting around the globe for six month...

But it was not all holiday and I've learned lot about pipe making and met some great people along the way. Pipe makers are nice and hospitable people who are friendly and ready to share most of their skills and some of their secrets as well.

I started with Cuxhaven Pipe Show in August which was eye opener for me as it was the first pipe show I ever attended. There were so many pipes on the tables, that I wondered how the hell am I going to sell some of mine...well I did sell a few, met lots of pipemakers, smoked a lot and had party every evening after the show...pity it had to end so fast, but I will be back, if not for the next one, then the one after that for sure. I will post some photos as soon as I figure way to put them on my site somewhere...

Then we went up north, visiting Rainer Barbi in Germany and continued to Denmark stoping along the way to see "Former", Tom Eltang in Copenhagen and Bo Nord in Sweden. What a people, the skills, the knowhow and their personality is just incredible, and it will be sad day indeed when they will stop carving their wonderfull pipes, so lets enjoy them while we can...

I have some great video footage to be edited and made into DVD, just need bit of time. Yes I've got so many things in the pipeline I could use some help around here :-)

If you like Pokers, here is one for you. Nice "Signature" class pipe with excellent straight grain all around the bowl. Very light, well balanced and well behaved, it will sit on your command, this is beautiful pipe indeed.

I used well seasoned Italian Plateaux, the pipe is double stained in orange over black and finished with Carnauba wax. Hand cut black Vulcanite stem has no filter.

So if you still looking for a pipe, go and check the specs on my site...you will not be dissapointed :-)

I wish you all the best for comming festive season, may your Chritmas stocking be full of tobacco and few pipes and hope you will have joyous time with your family and friends and enjoy the holiday break where ever you are...

First of all let me appologise for the huge gap in my Newsletters. As most of you know I am currently in Europe on what can be termed working holiday :-)

I am trying hard to be in touch and to check my e-mails, but computer is at best limited and many times non existent or so paifully slow as to make it practicaly unusable.

However we are enjoying our time here and the main attractions are still before us...Cuxhaven pipe show and visit to Denmark. Summer in Europe is coldest on record, at least where we are, so my pipe is being lit more then usual and our swim gear is still packed on the bottom of our bag.

We have just finished our trip to Greece, where I did find great supply of nice Plateaux and am looking forward time when I can cut into it. Unfortunatelly it will be at least 3-4 years before I can do that, but I am sure you will ba as patient as I am...

Greece is great country to visit and if you will ever have the opportunity, just go fo it. Athens is interesting as city alone and we enjoyed driving in the country to places like Delphi and Meteora.

People are friendly and food reasonably cheap and tasty, could not have egnough Greek Salad and you can enjoy your pipe after meal in almost any restaurant without attracting nasty stares of dinners around you.

I will post some photos on my site upon my return home as I do not know how to master this process from within Internet Coffee houses I have to use while moving around...

Don't know if all of you living in the Northern Hemisphere are having fun during your X-mas holiday break, but we "down under" certainly do. Having a great summer here, not as hot as last year, but plenty hot egnough to enjoy the beaches and ofcourse all the pipe activity outdoors as well...especially important for people like me, who can not smoke inside their own houses (how we end up in this situation is another story).

Mind you I like White Christmas and sometimes wish I could be with you that time of the year and enjoy the magic time of snow and steamy breath and the tobacco smoke lingering around once head, but I am sure many of you would wish to be here and enjoy X-mas on the beach. Well maybe one year we can swap :-)

So once more, have a very Happy New Year and I hope I'll be able to look after you when the urge of buying this special new pipe comes over you...

And here are the latest pipes to wet your appetite...

"Blowfish" shaped pipes are great fun pipes, but not only that, they also look great, feel good in the hand and are well balanced.

And if you are looking for birds eyes, you will always get PLENTY of them in any of my "Blowfish" pipes, and they are just great to look at.

I like the combination of smooth face with birds eyes and the rustication on the rest of the pipe. The rustic surface is smooth to the touch which makes the handling of this pipe such a nice experiance.

This particular pipe is also fitted with pearl Lucite (Acrylic) stem with genuine NZ Greenstone ring, and I think the combination is rather attractive and the pipe will look great in any pipe collection, so check out the full specs...

After deciding to sell our family boat (I am bit of a Old Sea Dog myself) and having to use it for the last time this summer, we'll be spending bit more time on it, so I'll be in and out of my workshop bit more for next month or so.

But don't worry, your orders will come to you and I'll keep up the hard work (my wife tell's me there are more then 24 hours in a day) and the new pipes will keep on rolling out of my workshop regardless...

Designed and created by Nelson's and New Zealand most noted contemporary designer, Jens Hansen, who created all the rings used during the filming of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy I am indeed fortunate to be in the position to offer this ring to you.

Crafted in the 14 carat solid gold, it comes with a presentation box, solid Sterling Silver chain and certificate os Authenticity directly from Jens Hansen's workshop.

There can only be One Ring, so there can only be One original Ring Designer, Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith of Nelson, New Zealand.

Any of my LOTR pipes and The One Ring is a stunning combination and will be apreciated by all who treasure fine and original things of beauty, not only LOTR fans, but The Ring is now available on its own, so all the people who bought one of my LOTR pipes in the past, can now add The Ring to their collection.

There are also 9 carat, 18 carat and White Gold and Platinum options available and if you like to recieve one of these, please let me know and I will send you a quote...

You can view the ring, the chain, presentation box and the certificate by using my pipe viewer at my site in the same way as you would view the pipe.

Carved from quality Plateaux, with plenty of straight grain all around the bowl, this is indeed nice pipe.

Fitted with black Vulcanite stem with solid Sterling Silver band, the pipe is very light and well balanced for Churchwarden style pipe, and will provide you with cool smoke.

Finished in stunning Black over Orange and nothing else but pure Carnauba wax, this is great addition to your existing pipe collection...

I do like to smoke light and well balanced Churchwarden pipes, as there is some unexplained magic in the process and I found, smoking them to be very relaxing, and great activity for any Sunday evening, with good drink and good company, there is nothing better...

Designed and created by Nelson's and New Zealand most noted contemporary designer, Jens Hansen, who created all the rings used during the filming of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy I am indeed fortunate to be in the position to offer this ring to you.

Crafted in the 9 carat solid gold, it comes with a presentation box, solid Sterling Silver chain and certificate os Authenticity directly from Jens Hansen's workshop.

There can only be One Ring, so there can only be One original Ring Designer, Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith of Nelson, New Zealand.

The Gandorr pipe and The One Ring is a stunning combination and will be apreciated by all who treasure fine and original things of beauty, not only LOTR fans.

The ring in my Combo Deal is 9 carat gold, but there are also 14 and 18 carat options and if you'll be interested in one other, or another of my LOTR pipes with The One Ring Combination, please let me know and I will send you price and delivery times.

You can view the ring, the chain, presentation box and the certificate by using my pipe viewer at my site in the same way as you would view the pipe.

It has finally happened...First Day Cover and LOTR series stamps have been released by New Zealand Post, and what a stamps they are...

If you are LOTR fan, you will certainly appreciate the special COMBO DEAL I have created for you.

You recieve unique Gandorr pipe, plus a set of 3 Post Cards with LOTR theme and affixed stamps showing Gandalf, Aragorn and Merry & Pippin, plus a First Day Cover envelope with Middle Earth theme with all 6 stamps of LOTR series, Gandalf, Aragorn, Marry & Pippin, Frodo, Legolas and ofcourse Gollum.

You can view the close up shots of the cards and stamps on my site using the pipe viewer, I have replaced top and bottom view of the pipe with them.

I think there is nothing better then to light the Gandorr pipe while enjoying the fine stamps collection and the two certainly compliment each other very well indeed...

So if you are interested, please place your order now as I am sure the stamps sets will sell out fast and I can only supply them while I have access to them.

Greetings from the Grey Wizard ;-)

If small is indeed beautiful, then this small but classy "Signature" pipe speaks the same language...

Craved from top quality Plateaux, with perffect straight grain all around the bowl, and light as a feather, you will hardly feel it between your teeth.

Hand cut black Ebonite stem with white Acrylic band, this is one fine pipe and will be a pleasure to smoke and enjoy.

And what a steal at that price for such a "Signature" class pipe...it will make your X-mas, I am sure...

Yes, I have good stock of new Latitude 41 pipes on hand and you can order all four at the special price of US$156.50.

The Latitude pipes are factory made pipes whci I import half finished so I can finish them to my standard and you can be sure that you will get a pipe which will smoke right. The pipes have no coating inside the bowl and are finished with Carnauba Wax only, which are the two main advantages over factory produced pipes. There are number of other modifications, such as filling the stem so its nice and thin and much more comfortable to hold between your teeth.

This year Latitude's come in new all black finish and for pipe in such a low price bracket, they are an excellent smokers and great everyday pipes. So if you need a pipe for driving, gardening, fishing, or just a cheaper pipe you don't need to worry about scratching or even loosing...try one or all four of my Latitude's and I am sure you will not be dissapointed.

If you are fan of Horn shaped pipe, I have one for you. Carved from quality Plateaux with nice cross grain and pleanty of birds eyes, this pipe will look great in any pipe collection.

It is very light and with good balance will be a pleasure to smoke, and I am sure it will sell qiuckly, so be fast if you like it.

Great Blow Fish shaped pipe, finished in Rustic Black with face full of nice birds eyes.

It is well balanced pipe and very light for pipe of its size and will sure atract pleny of attention and comments while you smoke it or display it.

It is one of my favorite shapes and just love feel of the rusticated, yet smooth half round bowl in my hand. And ofcourse the birds eyes on the face are unique feature of the Blow Fish shape.

I had some people asking me what is a difference between Ebonite and Vulcanite materials used for stems?

Well I am affraid...not much, they are both hard rubber compounds used not only for stem manufacture but also for large number of industrial applications. Most people in USA would use term Vulcanite, while in Europe term of Ebonite would be used more frequently.

I am not chemist, but in pipemaking circles, there is a small but important difference between these materials with a view of stem making. Most pre-cast, or should I say, pre-pressed, stem blanks are made from Vulcanite while on the other hand, the hand made stems are carver from solid rods and the material is called Ebonite. There could well be small difference in chemical composition of the two, but there is quite a large difference in a finished stem.

You will find that most hand made top quality pipes are fitted with Ebonite stems. Why, when most people hate the maintanence of basic Vulcanite stem? Becouse they are most comfortable and natural looking stems you can make. They can be carved much thinner then Lucite or Acrylic stems, are more comfortable, and have nice natural sheen to them to comliment top quality hand made pipe. They are stronger, and Ebonite stem will look good after many years with just little extra loving care, which should be no hasle at all for most people.

Hand cut Ebonite stem will always look and last much better then Vulcanite stem. There is one more important thing, which has nothing to do with the finished pipe, I hate the smell when cutting Lucite or Acrylic stem, but others might be exactly opposite, so it really comes to personal prefference.

I hope I did answer your question, but whatever stem you have on your pipe, enjoy smoking it, the stem is only small part of the overall smoking experiance...

I had this block of Plateaux half cut for some time, deciding on the final shape for this freehand-pipe and hoping that it would turn out to be flawless "Signature" class pipe...

Well it did and what a pipe it turned out to be. Beautiful staright grain all around the bowl which did not needed much stain to lift it out. This pipe is fitted with Lucite (Acrylic) stem with Delrin tenon for smooth action when removing the stem.

This pipe was carved from extra aged Italian Plateaux and its very light and well balanced for its size. It will be grat smoker and I am sure some lucky owner will get lots of pleasure looking after it and smoking it...

In the last issue of Pipes and Tobaccos magazine there is an excellent article by R.D.Field on subject of "Machine-"Made versus "Hand-Made" pipes. It puts forward plenty of valid points and all pipe smokers or collectors should reed it before deciding to outlay small fortune on "Hand-Made" pipe or grabing that bargain "Machine-Made"-pipe at your friendly tobacconist.

Let me add my feelings to the debate...

I preffer to call "Machine-Made" pipes a "Factory-Made" pipes as it sets the criteria in slightly less confussing way. As R.D.Field points out in his article, all pipes are to some degree made by machine, and therefore the term "Hand-Made" is not trully valid, unless the pipe was carved using pocket knife only and your own hands as sole operating power system. There is no doubt that a person with sufficient skills could indeed carve a smokeable pipe, but it would not win any beauty contests and its smokability would also be questinable. You see, every pipe carver who claims that his or hers pipes are "Hand-Made", is not 100% correct, if at some stage during the creation of that perffect pipe, some power tool, whatever small is used, in that case the term "Hand-Made" pipe should not be used...

But most pipe smokers would know and accept the terms for what they are... that the "Machine-Made" pipes are produced in large numbers at the pipe factory where most of the work is done by frazing machines but the pipes also require some degree of hand finishing, and on the other hand the "Hand-Made" pipes are carved by individual pipe makers who would do most of the work by hand while using combination of power tools and their own muscle power...

So what are the main points and advantages when one is deciding to lay out small money for that so called "Hand-Made" pipe?

In my view, the main advantage is that one is buying, in most cases, one-off design, and perffectly engineered and executed pipe. There is some satisfaction in knowing, that you are not likely ever meet a person with the same pipe clanched between his teeth when walking about, or enjoying your smoke in the park or beach.

The carver would use higher quality briar for all of his pipes and the wood would be in most cases hand sellected and properly curred. All his know how is put into the designing and carving the pipe, and the resulting pipe should be far supperior to any pipe produced in large numbers at the factory.

In my case, I like to call my pipes a "Hand-Crafted" rather then "Hand-Made" as the term in my view does allow pipe maker to use some power tools, while doing most of the work by hand. All of my pipes are carved from high quality Plateaux, which is the outside layer of the briar burl, and special attention is paid to all individual steps during the carving and finishing. The pipe will be rejected at any one of these steps if the fault is detected, and at the end the resulting pipe should provide you with visual quality and satisfying smoke. All my pipes are covered by 12 months guarantee, covering all possible material and manufacturing defects.

Tha main aim of the individual pipe carver or artisan, is to please his customers, and establish one to one relationship between him and the client. And if at the end you'll become friends, I consider my work well done, and that is the main difference for me, between "Factory-Made" and "Hand-Crafted" pipe :-)