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The
Best of Talbert Briar in 2006
2006 was a horrendous year, in so many ways. We started off
the
year badly behind on money, and I was out of commission for an extended
period from illness to make matters worse. The entire year
seemed
to be one disaster after another, until I felt completely punch-drunk
by the time December rolled around and I closed out the year by
completing the 2006 group pipes for French club Fumeurs de Pipe.
But, amid all these problems, some major evolution was going
on.
This was the first year without Halloween pipes, and I
introduced
my very basic idea of the Pfeifenigma. I began actively
sending
the majority of my pipe production to US retailer Pipe & Pint,
which helped turn things around in the second half of the year as far
as cash flow went. But perhaps the biggest shift was the
transition of the website "action" from the catalogs to the blog.
Before, working life was characterized by delays - Work for
weeks
on a set of pipes, then post them together, then wait an unknown period
again until they eventually sold. Now, I usually post each
pipe
as it's finished to the blog, see if anyone is interested and send it
over to Pipe & Pint quickly if it doesn't immediately sell.
It's faster, more "real time", and a lot more fun for me,
because
the blog is like a catalog with two-way communication - others can
write back to me there as easily as I can post. What this
will
eventually mean for the main website is uncertain. It's been
a
while since I really wanted to bother with the hassles of doing up all
the photos, the descriptions, catalog pages, etc, when it's so much
simpler and more pleasant to just stick the pipes in a box and ship
them off, and let someone else worry about the sales. It is
quite
possible that this website may eventually become static, with updates
only to these galleries and occasional resource tips.
Changes
in digital camera and photography style over the year have given the
thumbnails for this gallery page a hilariously schizo look!
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Talbert Briar 
