Twisting Wizard

    Sometimes there are aspects of work that seem particularly satisfying. The twisting hills and valleys of The Bamboo Churchwarden are such an aspect. I had originally created the Bamboo Churchwarden for myself out of a piece of briar which had some odd discoloring that made me suspect it's density. I figured it would be a good chance to try out using bamboo for my stems. I discovered that I enjoyed the bamboo stem but that I should have left a nodal for the bit of the stem. But even more did I enjoy the feel of the bowl in my hand. The complexity of twist and softly rising hills and valleys make it one of the most pleasant pipes I've ever held. So I returned to the style for the twisting wizard and once again I find it to be delightful.

Pax!

Blowfish Wizard

The Blowfish Wizard is a sturdy freehand pipe with a quarter bent double ball freehand stem. The  use of the orange and blue dyes leaves the bowl with just a slight greenish tint in the darker grains while leaving the forefront color an almost natural brown. It sits pleasantly in the hand. Many a pleasant evening can be spent over a chessboard with the earthy tones of tobacco smoke pouring from this pipe as one enjoys the company of a good friend. 

Gandalf's Branch

It is a pleasure to present Gandalf's Branch. This freestyle (wizard) pipe features a beautiful bamboo churchwarden stem with a brass tenon and a pipe bowl in the the same family as The Trunk and the Branch. I realize in previous posts I have made digs at certain churchwarden pipes being considered for travels but of course for Gandalf I must eat my own words. Of course Gandalf must be able to safely store such a pipe as this at any time. Why else would his hat be so tall?

The Square Wizard

Here is The Square Wizard. This a small bowl wizard freehand tobacco pipe that plays around with squares. The stem is a bamboo piece and the the tenon is reinforced with brass. The stem is not quite as long as my other churchwarden pipes but is sufficiently longer than a standard pipe stem.

I have been smoking british blend tobacco out of the "Bamboo Churchwarden" myself for several months now, testing out the the strength and quality of the bamboo as a stem material and have found it holds up well and is an enjoyable texture in the mouth.

The Wizard's Prow

The Wizard's Prow tobacco pipe was a gift pipe made for a young lady of whom I am quite fond. It is the first time I have used a Steck stem, as well as the first time I've made a straight freehand wizard pipe. It is a smaller break/lady pipe size bowl. The pipe ended up being wonderfully light because of the smaller bowl and an excellent little all around good pipe.

The Lazy Wizard

Howdy, howdy. It's been a while. Mea Culpa. I've had a new full time job for nearly six months and it has cut into my pipe making time. I also made a couple that were sold before I had photographed them. Any hoo, here is The Lazy Wizard tobacco pipe. This is possibly my favorite pipe yet. I have been smoking from a similar pipe since I made it and featured it here. It is one of my favorite pipes. It lights and stays alight well. It tends to smoke a little cooler than others. 

The Wizard's Horn

The Wizard's Horn tobacco pipe is a very different pipe. I am not entirely sure how well I like it. Visually it is beautiful. The straight grain of the plateaux briar is stunning and I have been improving on the way I use the dyes which have given this pipe an amazing finish and the rough outside of the root burl is always fascinating. What I am not happy about is the curve, and how that has effected the way it sits in the mouth. This is not a lazy pipe, all the weight is out at the end and the stem doesn't displace any of the weight from out to down. Still it is smokable and looks amazing, you just might want to build up your biceps before smoking this one.

I want to give a return shout out to Catholic Stuff Podcast created by the willing minds of Fr. John, Fr. Peter, Fr. Mike, Joe Doman, and, last but certainly not least, the esteemed Nathan Goebel. Joe recently lead a podcast on our own St. John Kemble and encouraged the listeners to check out this site, so thank you gents over at Catholic Stuff. Listen to this podcast, they have some amazing topics and deal with them thoughtfully and enjoyably. 

It's been a while

So it's been a couple of weeks since I posted my last pipe, but do not fear I am not totally inactive. So here is the run down.

I am currently working on three different pipes. One is a commissioned piece in the Wizard series that will be totting a stem I made. The other two are just new designs I wanted to try out. 

I accumulated a 1" wide upright belt sander. This will come in handy to finish forming some of my pipes but will be especially helpful in forming the stems I am starting to create. 

I sold the Sexton's Churchwarden through a tobacco shop. Tewksbury is where I usually go for my tobacco. It's a great little tobacco shop which also sells wine and fly fishing trips. They have several of my pipes on their shelves on commission and it is so exciting to see long time pipe smokers admiring them and now even buying them.

I have turned several cups and several stems on the lathe. It has been great to learn more about turning, as it gives me more options with stems. 

I have made a couple template pipes. These are pipes  I make out of American Hardwoods (cheap) and I smoke to try to work out particularly difficult designs. It allows me to have smoked and cleaned a pipe a customer might ask about. It also lets me sample different wood flavors. 

Here is my first cup and one of my template pipes. 

The Wizard's Folly

The Wizard's Folly is the result of making to many wizards pipes in a row without having a new name for the next one, thus the folly. I tried a different method of distressing the rim, which turned out beautifully. Anyway it is another good looking freehand pipe. 

The Wizard's Beard

Finally I've finished another pipe. Another Wizard freehand pipe, and this time it's the Wizards Beard. I played around with the ball and ring freehand stem a bit for some variation as well as giving it a strong bend. It came out well

The Wizard (or the Whale)

After I made the pipe featured in "The Big Block" I got a lot of positive feed back on it, especially because of the natural burl on the top. This pipe is an attempt to create a similar surface with a wire brush on a less expensive piece of briar. While I was carving this I thought it looked like a cartoon whale that was blowing water our of the hole meant for blowing water out of(I do apologize to all of you lovers of whale anatomy out there. I'm sure I learned the correct word for this at one point but some how it just hasn't  come up much since and thus I have forgotten it), but then a friend of mine thought it looked like a wizard's pipe, and I had to agree. I know that it looks nothing like the pipes from "The Lord of the Rings" movies but I don't think Gandalf would turn this pipe down if it were packed with a nice "Southfarthing"

Once again this is a Briar Pipe. The wire brushed surfaces have been stained with a black stain and the rest is stained with a red mahogany under coat and a brown mocha on top. It has a slightly curved freestyle stem.