Talbert Pipes: News

What's Playing in the Workshop now:

September 25th, 2009 - Well, it's been quite a while since the last news update, but we have been extremely busy putting together our new workshop. It still isn't operational yet, but will be within a couple of weeks, I hope. The main bit of news today is that I will be at CORPS, working at the Pipe & Pint table, if anyone wants to stop by and say hello. See you there!
July 8th, 2009 - The website lives! Well, not quite yet - It is still some considerable time before the workshop is finished and operating here, but I have at least managed to rename and redo the American Pipemaker in Brittany blog, and update both it and the Pipe Blog. I intend to keep both updated more regularly now, so that site visitors can at least have something semi-interesting to read if not to purchase. Check out the new posts in each for a sense of the directions I'll be taking each one in - the Pipe Blog will remain largely pipe-centric, mainly only touching on other subjects as they impact on our craft and hobby, while the newly-dubbed Life in America will be my spot for all other rambles and rants. One of these days I may even upgrade it to something nicer than just a generic Blogger layout, but content before trimming, as they say.
April 19th, 2009 - We are officially closed down. A quick status update for our friends and customers of Talbert Pipes - Emily and I are in the final stages of packing here and will be departing France at the end of this week, inbound to North Carolina, where we will probably collapse and go comatose for some days before re-emerging into the conscious world. I will be offline for some time, not sure how long, but probably not answering much email this week or next, so if you write and don't hear back, please be patient. It will be at LEAST 2-3 months, probably more, before the workshop is up and running again.

Six days and counting...
March 20th, 2009 - A small bit of news - Our website and workshop will be closing down for the next several months while Emily and I move back to the USA. For the full story, check tonight's article on the Pipe Blog!
February 28th, 2009 - Ye gods, what a busy month! I've just posted one very small update, two new mortas to the Talbert Morta catalog. There's a blog entry and some entertaining updates coming later next week too, with any luck, but the bulk of my work lately has been for orders and requests.
January 30th, 2009 - First Ligne Bretagne of 2009 is posted, complete with a backstory on the Pipe Blog, and the pics of the now-finished 2008 Christmas Ghost are posted on the blog also!
January 22nd, 2009 - Wow, I really need to try and find the time to archive last year's news postings! OTOH, considering I'm still behind to 2007 on the "Best Of" galleries, I suppose that's about typical. It's been a very busy month behind the scenes for us here, though not much has been happening on the website. I've just started to rectify that a little, though, with two new mortas posted to the morta catalog. I'm still busily searching for other reliable sources of good quality morta, as we are 100% decided to end our use of the local Briére morta. Whether I will find a solid source or not, and whether Talbert Mortas will continue, is still an open question. One thing I do know is that I will be changing the stamping & marking on the pipes so that future collectors will be able to differentiate between Breton Briére morta and any later production, on the estate market.
December 30th, 2008 - As expected, December was a pretty quiet month here on the site, with no new pipe updates, but I'm making up for that now with a BIG pipe catalog posting to carry us into the new year. First up, we have a pair of new Ligne Bretagne Collectors, both handmade sandblasts with horn stems, and one of them is our last green pipe of 2008! Then there are also two new Morta Classics, a prince and a poker, for those folks who want to snap up a Talbert Morta made from Briére morta while they are still available. Finally, I've also posted our first new Talbert Briar in a long time, a beautiful new freehand of exotic shape, for the fans of our highest grade line. In other news, I'm about to go take out the Christmas-themed items from our Gift Shop, but I hope to replace them with some new and interesting goodies in the near future. There will be a new Pipe Blog update shortly, including some pics of a Christmas Ghost pipe, but I doubt I will have anything new for the website until January so I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy New Year, Bonne Année, with best wishes all around for a safe and prosperous 2009!
December 11th, 2008 - Well, I've been pleasantly surprised by the initial sales from our new "Shirts & Goodies" web shop! I wasn't really expecting anything at all, but at least now I can actually afford TWO pizzas out of our tiny profit margins, not just one. If anyone is looking for Christmas gifts out of the shop, be advised that last minute shipping dates for Dec. 24th package arrival are coming up quick. Cafe Press, the manufacturer, recommends the following for "last minute" shipping dates:
Holiday Orders

For delivery on or before December 24, please order by 11:59 p.m. EST, unless noted otherwise, on:

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Shipping Method Order by

Economy Extended to Thursday, December 11

Standard Monday, December 15

Premium Saturday, December 20

1 Day Noon, Monday, December 22

Canada and the United Kingdom

Shipping Method Order by

Economy Deadline passed

Standard Thursday, December 11

Express Thursday, December 18

US Territories and the Rest of the World, including Australia

Shipping Method Order by

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Express Tuesday, December 16

Order deadlines apply for all items except books which take longer to process.

Delivery dates are not guaranteed and may include extra transit time in case of unforeseen delays. Late deliveries are always a possibility, but CafePress will do its best to ensure late deliveries are as infrequent as possible.
December 4th, 2008 - I don't expect to have much posting to the site this month, for reasons I explained in tonight's Pipe Blog entry. However, I do have one bamboo-shanked morta here that I haven't yet decided what to do with, if anyone is interested (There's a pic in the blog posting and I can make more). It will either go to the morta catalog eventually, or to P&P for their stock, depending on whether or not I can get other pipes finished to make a decent site update to accompany it here.
November 26th, 2008 - Lots of news! Two new Goblins, one new Talbert Briar, and a whole new web shop for Talbert-branded shirts, hats, gifts, and other toys (Check the new link in the menu to the left). The full story of all this can be found in tonight's Pipe Blog entry.
November 19th, 2008 - New Goblins and a smooth Talbert will be along very shortly, along with some news about the soon-to-open Talbert "goodies" web shop (Think shirts, hats, steins, etc), as soon as the pipes get done modeling for some nice art shots for shirt and mug graphics. In the meantime, there are two new Ligne Bretagnes posted - One sandblasted churchwarden (just in time for Christmas churchwarden season) and an LB handmade Collector, a rusticated second from the Israeli Talbert POY project (and an excellent value for the money for anyone who likes these bullhorn shapes in extra-squat). Check them out.
November 10th, 2008 - New Goblins! Fang Two and Fang Three should be following along in short order, as well as a beautiful smooth high-grade Talbert Briar. Yes, there ARE smooth Talbert Briars, they're not all sandblasted!
November 4th, 2008 - No new pipes for election day, but I did make a small change to our Contact page, adding a new link to our Facebook page and also changing the link and info for the Hotel Vince, which has now changed ownership and name.
November 1st, 2008 - Finally, two more Goblins are posted! It took working through my birthday today to get these done, but at least now they are finished and there are already others coming along nicely to be posted in not too many more days. The next question will be what to do once the current Goblins are all finished up - I'm split between the "common sense" urge to focus on lower-priced lines (due to the miserable economy) or to focus entirely on the very highest grades (since the folks most affected by the miserable economy will also be the typical buyers for the lower-priced lines). I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any requests! In the meantime, I have this nagging idea for a Talbert set of Christmas Ghosts....
October 28th, 2008 - Well, things do seem to be going from bad to worse - further difficulties with the latest Goblins have pushed back their posting dates and there is only one new Goblin posted rather than the three that I had hoped. On the plus side, the difficult ones should be finished alongside another couple of new ones, so I should (fingers crossed) have a small pile of new Goblins appearing in the near future. It just doesn't look like they'll all be here in time for Halloween, sadly.
October 23rd, 2008 - One small update tonight - This year's 50th Ligne Bretagne was just posted to the Ligne Bretagne catalog. I hadn't even noticed I'd made that many LBs this year! Also, due to the wonderful new exchange rate (thanks to the horrifying world economy), I've gone back and adjusted all the estimated USD prices for the Ligne Bretagnes in stock. If you're a US buyer and you looked at anything earlier in the year, you might want to check back again to see the newer-and-better prices. This makes me mightily tempted to jump back into making more Talbert Briars now, possibly even (I never said this) a 2008 Yule pipe... In other news, I've got 3 new Goblins in their final stages, look for preview pics in the Pipe Blog soon and they should be posted in a couple of days.
October 18th, 2008 - Good grief, what a horrific week this has been! I'll be posting a new pipe blog entry shortly to show "The Halloween pipe that wasn't", but in the meantime, I've just posted our one decent accomplishment of the entire week, our newest Goblin, the Quarmal. More should be on the way quicker, but then again, I said that on the 13th too, before the week from hell. Fingers crossed for better luck in this coming week!
October 13th, 2008 - The Thirteenth seems like the natural day to post our first new Goblins for the 2008 October Goblin season! More will be added in quick sequence all through this month...
October 11th, 2008 - The new pipe deluge begins. First posted are two new Ligne Bretagnes now added to the catalog. They both show off the latest evolution of my contrast staining work, using an all-natural method to enhance the grain contrast of the wood. Look for this on a lot of my pipes in future! It's nice to finally have something new on the website again, and wow, what a difference a few months has made - With the euro finally dropping to a more realistic level against the dollar, suddenly US buyers can get a considerably better deal than was available as recently as the Spring. I checked the relative prices out of curiosity, and found that the new smooth LB would have cost $190 when the euro was at its height, but today is just $166. The LB Collector ( a big smooth poker, for you poker fiends) would have been $369 but today is just $317! The savings get bigger the more expensive the pipe, so just wait until the new Talbert Briars start appearing... Oh yes, and I haven't forgotten the season! I hope everyone has enjoyed the new seasonal home page graphic, and expect some new Goblins to come skittering onto the site VERY shortly. There may even be a Talbert Halloween pipe this year, if all goes well...
September 28th, 2008 - We're still alive! See my Pipe Blog entry of this evening for the latest news of what I've been up to, and what's coming up next week. Assuming I recover from the flu, at least, otherwise what's coming up next week may be mostly me lying on the couch watching cheesy horror movies until I feel better...
September 6th, 2008 - Morta mix-up! We had marked our remaining mortas as sold due to a supposed group purchase, but unfortunately that has fallen through, due largely to some incomprehensible language translation difficulties (When you have to spend more time trying to accurately figure out what someone is saying than you spent making the pipes, it doesn't work too well...) So! The two bamboo-shanked mortas are back in the Morta Catalog. I also have a sandblasted morta prince on hand, but I think that one will be going to Israel with the group pipes. Given various events going on behind-the-scenes here, I suspect these may be the last Talbert Mortas to be available for a very long time indeed.
August 27th, 2008 - Anyone interested in morta pipes should check out today's Pipe Blog post for a couple of current offers, plus news that will greatly affect our morta production in the near future.
August 15th, 2008 - Yess! It's strange to call this "good" news, but recent announcements that the EU-zone economies are in recession this year has FINALLY dropped the value of the euro, and dropped it a substantial amount too. Of course, this now comes at a time when we have barely any pipes available on the site other than a couple of Ligne Bretagnes, but still, it's a positive sign for the future. Trading last month at $1.58 per euro, today's rates clock in at $1.47 per euro - a serious savings when one is talking about high grade pipes. Last month's 390 € pipe was $616 to US buyers, and today it's dropped to $573, just on currency fluctuation. Expect the next round of USD price estimations to be considerably friendlier than they have been for this past year or more, assuming these values hold.
August 6th, 2008 - No new pipes for the time being, but I wanted to post news that we are slowly going through our blogs and sorting them by tags. Being smaller and easier to handle, the "American Pipemaker in Brittany" blog is getting handled first. There is a new index to the left that lists all the various subjects and topics of the various blog posts, readily available for easy post sorting. Want to see all the blog posts on Halloween in France? Just click the Halloween link. I have NOT made much headway in this yet - I've tagged about 35 of 136 posts, so the index isn't complete and doesn't provide a full post listing yet, but it's a work in progress. Once this is finished, I'll do the pipe blog, which should make it a lot easier to navigate for those looking specifically for posts on sandblasting, staining, or whatever.
July 27th, 2008 - I've just posted one new Morta Classic. The poor thing has been sitting around here all week while I've been trying to find time to post it, while working like crazy on the first box of group pipes. Check it out in the Morta catalog. Next projects - a pipe blog article on the issue of discounts, and another on airhole drilling... when I can set aside the time!
July 20th, 2008 - New Goblin! Nobbin has joined the mangy horde - See him in the Goblin catalog.
July 17th, 2008, pt 2 - I just updated the Pipe Blog with a post about our very first pens for sale. These are a limited run of pens done from inherited parts, on offer for what I hope is a good price for a hand-finished pen, and are available in both smooth and sandblast finishes until all our inventory of their pen bodies is gone (We can probably make about twenty or so before they're all gone). See the blog post for full details!
July 17th, 2008 - I just posted a new Morta Classic in the Morta catalog. It's a bit different from previous ones, as it has a new and unique finish - a combination of rustication and sandblasting, which produced a bizarre, complex, and slightly macabre result. In other news, I hope to be posting a first small batch of pens for sale later today... somewhere. Not yet decided if I will make a page for them here or just post pics on the blog, or perhaps make a whole different page just for them. We'll see. These will not be "Talbert Pens", per se - They are made from kits, though I will be doing the sandblasting on some of them, but they will be very economically priced and will help to finance more after-hours pen work towards the end goal of creating true Talbert Pens. In the meantime, these should make some nice and affordable Christmas gifts! ;)
July 14th, 2008 - I've just posted our first new Morta Classic since the #100 some months ago - It's hard to believe it's been so long since I posted the last new morta! This one is in the same shape as the #100, just a very tiny bit larger. You can see it in the Morta catalog. There's another one like this one in the works now, which I'll be posting in a day or two if all goes well.
July 11th, 2008 - Two new pipes are up - a new freehand Talbert Briar (an unusual and very rakish deep-bent sandblasted egg), and a new Goblin, Gabblehaunt. Enjoy!
July 6th, 2008 - New Goblin! Dhogott has just been posted - probably the scariest Goblin thus far, and perhaps closer to a budget Talbert Briar Halloween pipe than his fellows, but hey, I was inspired. See him here. I'll probably continue making Goblins all through this year. I'd considered doing a set of Talbert Halloween pipes this Fall, but it isn't looking like the dollar will be making any sort of recovery for some time to come (Years? At least by the signs in the news), and I'd hate to have our US collectors find themselves priced hopelessly out of a very high-end set of pipes. We'll see what happens, I suppose.
July 5th, 2008 - Our first catalog addition for July is a new Ligne Bretagne Collector, another of these neat leaf-like freehand shapes. Check it out here. I've got a new Goblin finished and photographed, too, but am out of working time for the evening so he will have to wait until tomorrow. I don't know what proportion of site visitors follow the Pipe Blog, but I did finally manage to update it also - the latest post is all about a little side project that Emily has started working with, the creation of a high quality Talbert-brand handmade pen. It will be a while before that produces any sellable results, but we're both enjoying the change of focus - It's nice to do something completely different for a change!
June 30th, 2008 - Well, that went happily quicker than expected - another new arrival, "Fangtooth the Rancid", has arrived in the Goblin catalog. I hope to have another finished to post tonight, but thought it best to go ahead and put this fellow up since it so often seems to take more time than expected to put all the finishing touches on a pipe..
June 29th, 2008 - Following up on last night's news post, I've just added two new pipes to the site - one rather exotic Talbert freehand (the Seahorse) in the Talbert Briar catalog, and a new Goblin, #14, Ganglewort, in the Goblin catalog. On top of this, if all goes well I should have another couple of new Goblins to add in coming days. It's a green summer at Talbert Pipes!
June 28th, 2008 - One small update for tonight. I've just posted the first regular-line Ligne Bretagne in some time, a neat horn-stemmed apple, which can be seen top of the listing in the Ligne Bretagne catalog. I've also got a new Goblin and a rather spectacular Talbert Briar freehand ready to post, but it's late here and I think I'll leave them for tomorrow.
June 25th, 2008 - Updates! I was expecting to be starting on a group pipe project shortly, but that's been pushed back a couple of weeks so I hope to use this time to stock the site up as best I can. Look for new pipes in every catalog to be appearing soon! For starters, I've just posted another "Bullhorn" bulldog/horn/Rhodesian variant in the Talbert catalog. It's a shorter version than the last one, though equal in bowl size, and sporting an entertainingly gnarly sandblast with some unusual surface graining. Also up is a new Goblin, the Grabnackle, now looking for a smoker to sink his teeth into...
June 20th, 2008 - A small update today, there is a new LB Collector in the Ligne Bretagne catalog, and a Talbert Briar (one for the fans of the extra-craggy sandblast!) posted in the Talbert catalog.
June 14th, 2008 - Big update! I've just posted FOUR new Ligne Bretagne Collectors, including #50 of the series - in some ways, it's startling to realize I've made fifty of these pipes now, and yet it also seems an extremely low number for a pipe series I've been making for five or six years now. Not exactly common on the ground, LB Collectors... You can see them all in the Ligne Bretagne catalog. There's another new arrival on the site too. In Spring, a young(ish) man's mind turns to.... Goblins? Yes, in keeping with the green season, I've just posted a new Goblin for sale, Festertoad, an exceedingly mushroomey fellow. Check him out in the Goblins catalog. Finally, I was asked to mention that one of my collectors may be interested in selling a smooth Talbert Briar he bought last year, which is a bit smaller than his preferred size. I believe it is this Ballerina:
If anyone is interested in picking this pipe up UNSMOKED, or has questions about it, you can contact George Brissie by email.
June 7th, 2008 - I've just relisted a sandblasted morta poker in the morta catalog. It's the one top of the list. It had been marked sold, but unfortunately the sale fell through. That's all for today, though I hope to have three more Ligne Bretagne Collectors AND a new Goblin ready to post within the next couple of days.
June 6th, 2008 - Yet another Ligne Bretagne Collector is up! It's an interesting horn/bulldog combination that I personally find appealing. Also, it's #49 of the LB Collectors, leaving me to wonder what sort of special-something I can whip up for #50.
June 2nd, 2008 - Ahh, summer is here! At least, I'm sure it's out there somewhere above the dark rain clouds... Yes, it's grey and opaque here again, at least for today. But at least the weather is nice, and it will soon be time to start packing lunches for the beach and getting in all the swimming and fun that we can. Until the sun comes out, however, here's another new pipe! I've just posted a new Ligne Bretagne Collector with some, err, niice grain...
May 31st, 2008 - And then came the last days of May. One of my favorite songs, even though it has nothing to do with pipes. I've just posted another new Talbert Briar. I had hoped to have this one join the Italian and a couple more LB Collectors, but the Italian sold and we just burned through THREE LB Collectors that all had to be discarded due to flaws. So, again like a couple days ago, I won't send out any notices on this yet because it would be annoying to get a notice for just one new pipe. I'll try and finish up some new stuff over the weekend so I can send out a proper email notice & ad on Monday. In the meantime, if you're reading this, consider yourself sneak-previewed ;)
May 30th, 2008 - The small updates continue. I liked the shape of that last Ligne Bretagne Collector so much that I decided to make a couple more. There's a new one posted now to the LB catalog. Also, that Talbert that I posted last night is already sold, but if my luck holds, I hope to have a really funky freehand finished and posted either this evening or tomorrow. This is excellent workshop weather here!
May 29th, 2008 - I've just posted a new sandblasted Talbert Briar to the catalog. I haven't sent out a notice yet since I don't want to pester everyone with an email for just one pipe, but I was doing a bunch of photography and it was finished, so here it is. If you happen to read this, consider yourself to be getting a sneak look before the ads eventually get posted when there are more pipes up. ;)
May 25th, 2008 - A small Sunday-evening update. I've just posted the first Ligne Bretagne Collector to be available in some time to the LB catalog. Check it out to appreciate the very bizarre grain! Also, there is a new Talbert Briar sandblast, the Chunky Billiard. See it in the TB catalog. I'll shortly be posting a new blog article too, a review by a customer of the two Ligne Bretagne princes he purchased that I'd been "flavor tuning". I hope readers wil be interested by his accounts of the smoking differences possible between two identical shapes made from the same briar of the same age.
May 16th, 2008 - Big update, speaking relatively AND literally. For starters, I have just posted the first Talbert Briar available on this site since the Bent Bulldog that was posted waaay back in January. I've been so busy with special orders that I just haven't had enough time to devote to making Talbert Briars for the site, but I deliberately set aside some working time this month to create something special - a very high grade ring-grained sandblast, the Bent Billiard-Monster. It's another biggie, so check it out in the catalog - It's certainly about as good a sandblast as I am capable of making. Along with that, there are also (again, after a couple months of no new pipes) three new Talbert Mortas posted in the Morta catalog. We've hit Morta Classic #100! It's a new look for the Morta Classics - bit more elegant, I think, though there's a nice rugged sandblasted poker available too, as well as (again) a more elegant bamboo-shanked smooth. Hope you enjoy!
May 10th, 2008 - First update in a while! I've been extremely busy working on various special orders and putting together some pipe shipments for US and Israeli dealers. But, I did manage to get three new Ligne Bretagnes finished up, and they're now posted to the catalog. One smooth Canadian, and two blasts, one of which (the #45) showcases a new staining effect that I'm quite proud of - It's a sort of golden brown that fluctuates over the surface. This evening, probably after dinner, I'll be posting my next big article on sandblasting to the pipe blog. It will be a discussion of how to "read" the surface of a sandblast, complete with accompanying photos and illustrations for examples. The next website update should be in a few days, when I'll be posting some new Talbert Mortas (including an Author which will probably go fast...) and a Talbert Briar straight billiard blast - about as attractive and classical as I can make. Stay tuned!
April 21st, 2008 - Due to a mix-up, one of the Ligne Bretagnes (an unstained billiard sandblast) that was marked sold is actually still available _ I've just changed its status in the Ligne Bretagne catalog. It's the one at the top. Also, billiard fans and fans of sandblast finishes may want to look at this Pipe Blog posting for a few pics of a very nice straight billiard blast that I recently finished. The pipe is already sold, but it's still pretty cool to see.
April 14th, 2008 - Finally, an update for the morta catalog! Even though it is just one pipe, it is still quite a nice example of a smooth morta poker. Also, anyone interested in my Halloween pipes may want to check out today's Pipe Blog entry for a little sneak preview....
April 12th, 2008 - I just posted out last update for a while to the Ligne Bretagne catalog. There are three new pipes - two beautiful smooth Princes and a sandblasted billiard. That gives us a good stock of LBs now, for as long as they hold out. I'm about to turn my full attention to doing a few Talbert Briar billiards for both orders (If you're interested in a Talbert Briar billiard, please email me) and also at least one for the long-empty website catalog... and a couple of new mortas, finally. Plus a few for a dealer. After that, I have a Club Pipe to make, and I expect that will keep me busy for quite some time, so I don't know how active the website catalogs will be. I will try to post new pipes whenever I can, though.
April 8th, 2008 - I've just posted another big flood of new pipes to the Ligne Bretagne catalog, in another attempt to get some lasting stock in there. There are five new pipes, three of which are chubby, horn-stemmed pieces that will probably be popular. Also, the smooth churchwarden that was marked as sold has been relisted - I didn't receive any further communication from the buyer so I'm assuming he's changed his mind. Enjoy!
March 30th, 2008 - In and around working on a pair of Talbert Briar blowfish this weekend (one giant, one miniature), we've finished up a pair of the popular six-paneled Ligne Bretagne tankards, both blasts. Check them out in the Ligne Bretagne catalog!
March 28th, 2008 - After everything in the last Ligne Bretagne update sold out, most within the first hour of posting (WHERE is the sudden rush of Ligne Bretagne popularity coming from? Not that I'm complaining, mind...), I figured we should try to get some more onto the site as soon as possible. Check out the Ligne Bretagne catalog for five more new arrivals, a nicely mixed bunch with one churchwarden, a bulldog, a panel, and other fun pipes. Only one of the five is a blast - We've had extremely good luck with the briar this week, for whatever reason, getting pipe after pipe with smooth, beautiful grain.
March 24th, 2008 - Well, that was quite a sales success - as I write this, there are only three LBs remaining available from yesterday's mass posting. If you looked yesterday and didn't see one you liked, you may want to check the Ligne Bretagne catalog again, as I had one pipe swap-out for a different one, so the list of what's available juggled and changed a bit.
March 23rd, 2008 - Ligne Bretagne flood! This might possibly be the largest-ever update - I've just added seven new LBs to the Ligne Bretagne catalog. They're a mix of smooths and blasts, including a couple of "bare naked" sandblasts that aren't even waxed. There are a few other items of news - I've dropped including the catalog number and text in the graphics and instead have it down in the description title. A minor change, but it will save me roughly 5 to 10 minutes of working time per pipe image, which adds up into more workshop time really quick. Also, Emily has now joined the photo team! With her own computer now, she can take on some of the photo assembly workload, which means two very good things - More updates, more frequently, and more workshop time for me, meaning more pipes created. Yay!
March 20th, 2008 - Another new pipe arrives in the Ligne Bretagne catalog. I fear we're soon to be saying farewell to another of the catalog shapes - the large, straight billiards are running out. I only have ten more stummels here in the workshop, and I don't think there are any more in the briar cavern, though I'll have to go check. I'll be posting several more over the next day or so - I've got two more finished right now and one downtairs with the stain drying, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow.
March 19th, 2008 - The first of a steady stream of new Ligne Bretagnes has hit the catalog. It's a squat, fat, smooth piece, which I think may be the first use of this shape that I've posted. Also, I've just posted my first "real" post over on our brand-spanking-new Pipe Blog, pondering on whether 2008 might mark the start of a strong resurgence in the popularity of classical pipe shapes.
March 14th, 2008 - Well, that took a bit longer than hoped-for or expected, but I post today to announce that the all-new, fully-refreshed Talbert Pipe Blog is open for your reading & viewing pleasure! If you stop in, please vote in the top two sidebar polls, as they concern whether or not we'll invest a bit in some emerging web technologies. Next up, new pipes for the site (at last)!
March 2nd, 2008 - I'm currently in the middle of switching the Pipe Blog to be hosted at Blogger, as opposed to on my server space where it has lived thus far. This will enable me to do some new things with it - add more widgets much more easily, and load up with video and pics as I wish, without having to worry over server space. The new location is Talbert Pipes Blog, so you may want to go ahead and bookmark that as the old link will eventually become a redirect link. I haven't changed the website links yet because it's a work in progress - switching over meant reverting to one of the standard Blogger templates for reasons that are too ridiculous to explain, so the pipe blog has returned to its old, pre-2007 look. For now. I will be fiddling with colors, backgrounds, page arrangements, etc, over the coming days/weeks/months, until it's a bit more "me".
March 1st, 2008 - "Beware the Ides of March!" When I was a wee lad, I thought this saying was, "Beware the EYES of March" for a very long time, and always wondered how a month could be watching me. It's likely that this may be a Goblin-infested month... But, until any green things make their appearance, I'm still working on Talbert blowfish. I did find time to finish up one really beautiful pencil-shanked Ligne Bretagne billiard, though - a beautiful unstained smooth. Check it out!
February 22nd, 2008 - I just posted three more Ligne Bretagnes, which gives me a decent catalog stock of LBs in at least a few varied shapes for the first time in a long time. Now it's round-the-clock work on some Talbert blowfish, to finish up before month's end. Speaking of, I've just updated the Pipe Blog with finished pics of the pipe that was shown in the "Making of" post a couple days ago.
February 20th, 2008 - No new pipes posted today (I have two more LB like the last ones finished and ready, but haven't had time to do photos yet). However, for those who like to follow pictures of the steps in pipe creation, you may want to check out today's Pipe Blog post, where I've put up a pile of photos showing the steps of making a Fantasy Blowfish I'm currently working on.
February 15th, 2008 - Two more new Ligne Bretagnes are posted - both bent pear shapes, one a churchwarden and the other a beautiful unstained smooth. I'd hoped to have a new blog post today, but Blogger is fussing again and those of us who publish to our own site space via FTP are once more being shafted. Blogger-hosted blogs work fine, of course, but no one has been able to make new FTP posts for a couple of days, apparently. Grr. And I've got two article ideas piled up already (An Excellent Tobacco, and Ligne Bretagnes on fire). I suppose I really should move the pipe blog to be hosted on Blogger - I've already done this with the "American in France" blog, but I'm reluctant to give up the control with the business blog. We'll see...
February 14th, 2008 - Happy Valentine's Day! You all did remember to get your SO a card, oui? As usual, I'm working the holiday, but there are three new Ligne Bretagnes posted to show for it. All three are the short, stubby, round apple shapes, similar to some popular ones I did last year. There should be a couple more LB catalog additions coming in short order, as we're right now putting the finishing work on two churchwardens as part of the ongoing attempt to keep a good variety of varied shapes into the LB catalog as regular stock.
February 10th, 2008 - As I figured, the new laptop ate most of our workshop time for the past week, and left me scrambling to get some pipes finished up for a new dealer. As a result, there's only one small addition to the catalog tonight - a new Ligne Bretagne "semi-churchwarden" that should please lovers of wizard-ey pipes..
February 1st, 2008 - No pipe news today, but please check today's Pipe Blog post for current events here. I will likely be very busy with non-pipe-related annoyances for the next few days, so expect email replies to be slower than usual, I'll likely be absent from online forums, etc.
January 29th, 2008 - In what will likely be the last catalog update for January, I've just posted four new pipes - two new bamboo-shank mortas and two new "Fat Dwarf" Ligne Bretagnes. They would have been three, but one sold sight-unseen just from the announcement on my pipe blog about the discovery of the things!
January 23rd, 2008 - One new pipe is up, the first Morta Bettafish of 2008.
January 22nd, 2008 - Goals for 2008, number 124: Get more Ligne Bretagnes in the website catalog! I've just posted the very first two LBs of 2008 to the catalog. Both are horn-stemmed straight billiard sandblasts, in finishes similar to one that I made last summer and liked enough to do more.
January 20th, 2008 - Two new mortas are posted to the morta catalog. Both are poker shapes, one blast and one smooth, and each has a little twinkle of subtle difference from the usual morta classics. Also, I finally finished the monstrous Halloween pipe that I've been working on, and also finished up the series of blog posts that I've been making to follow the creation of the thing. For those who are interested in such stuff, you may want to check out the pipe blog entries starting with this post.
January 15th, 2008 - Just posted one new Talbert Briar sandblast to the catalog - a very pretty unstained "Briar Bettafish" with a smooth bird's-eye rim. Check it out!
January 12th, 2008 - Having recently discovered the wonder that is Last.fm for internet streaming radio (especially in combo with super-duper Linux mediaplayer Amarok), I thought I'd toss up the little "What's Playing" widget above. I'm sure visitors are just dying to know what we listen to in the workshop each day ([/sarcasm]), but what the heck, I thought it was fun and silly.
January 11th, 2008 - The updates just keep on rolling. I've just posted a new Ligne Bretagne Collector (an extra-large "Fat Prince") and the last of the current run of Talbert Briar sandblasted bulldogs. That finishes up my bulldog fest for the time being, now it's on to other projects! Also "new" is the Suscinio 2.0, a reworking of the Suscinio pipe that was originally posted last summer. Check its catalog page for the full story on this revamp.
January 7th, 2008 - In keeping with my goal of getting more pipes onto the website, I've just posted another Ligne Bretagne Collector. It's a huge freehand, and was even flawless enough to leave completely unstained. Nice pipe!
January 5th, 2008 - Just posted a new entry to the Pipe Blog. Ordinarily this would not be news, but it's gone without posts since November! I hope to keep it a bit better updated now that the holiday madness has settled down. Also, I hope to completely redo the appearance of the thing - the crazy "intergalactic" look was really only meant as a stopgap change to replace the old layout, which was the same standard blog style used by nearly every other pipe/craft blog on the web. As usual, though, I stayed busy wit other things all through the year and never got round to properly fixing it up. Making the pipe blog graphic layout prettier and more harmonious will be a goal for 2008. Now I just have to figure out what CSS is...
January 4th, 2008 - Happy New Year! I'm here in the middle of a hundred "to do's" for January, prime among them being to try and get a little more stock up on the website, which has bene pretty empty for a while. To start this off, there are two new bamboo-shanked Talbert Mortas, and a fun green Ligne Bretagne Collector for a very nice price. I hope to do more blog posting than I have of late, but I'll talk about the details of that in the next actual post. And then there is much website reorg to do, including filing away all of last year's news entries. Ooof. If only the business of pipemaking had a little more pipemaking and a little less business in it...! ;)