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December 17th, 2005 - As of today, we are closed for vacation until December 27th. Thanks for visiting, and we hope everyone has a happy holiday season!
December 12th, 2005 - With the arrival of my parents getting closer and closer, I doubt I will have much time this week to finish the rest of the new Talberts that were meant to comprise the next update, so I am posting the one pipe that IS finished, the Seahorse. This is the pipe that was shown in the "Making of" video posted to our blog, where I explained our drilling process. See it HERE
There is also one small update to the morta catalog - There is a new bent smooth poker-shaped Morta Classic posted HERE
Finally, I've just posted the first example of our new Ligne Bretagne A series for our catalog (the first five pipes of production went to P&P - this is the first one we've had available for our website customers) - See it HERE
As was shown in the "Making of" videos for the LB "A" pipes, this series has a good deal more hand work than the normal series LBs, but I hope people will like them and I believe they offer a good value for the price - especially in getting a Talbert Briar-quality sandblast on a pipe under 200 €!
November 30th, 2005 - One new mean green sandblast is added - See it HERE I have been working on this one in scattered bits of free time in between trying to get all of our holiday "stuff" done this month.
November 24th, 2005 - Happy Thanksgiving! The big news today is over in our Pipe Photo blog - the story, and a "making of" video, of our new Ligne Bretagne "A" series pipes. The first examples of these are shipping to Pipe & Pint shortly. They do require more work than the regular LBs, and thus will be more expensive (with prices ranging between 125 and 200 euros, usually being either 150 or 175 €). But, I expect we will be able to deliver a really excellent pipe for this price. We'll find out from what the Pipe & Pint people say! The full grading scale info can be found here
November 7th, 2005 - For those who may be interested...
A very early collector is selling off some of his Talberts on ebay in preparation of a huge relocation move. To those who are interested in such things, two of these are the second and third pipes I ever made, respectively - the Bilbo and the Twisted Egg. The Bilbo has been one of the most popular shapes I've ever done and I've turned down numerous requests to copy it over the years (and others have done various copies of it). The Twisted Egg was the third pipe I ever made, and I guess one can see from that one the genesis of the style that later developed into things like the Halloween pipes. I am not affiliated with this sale in any way, I'm just posting the news as a favor to the fellow and because I thought that visitors might be interested in this little bit of Talbert history. Here are the links:
http://minilien.com/?HufWuvbrar
http://minilien.com/?oszd5dsXs9
http://minilien.com/?ISBL3OIukS
October 28th, 2005 - The last Halloween pipe is posted! The Hydra is finished and online, and the bidding will run until October 31st. Thank you all very much for your interest in this oddball little project, and good luck to everyone in the bidding! See the NEWS page on the Halloween site for full details.
October 27th, 2005 - Four more new Ligne Bretagnes have been posted - again, two smooths and two blasts. Fans might welcome the return of the fat dwarf pipes after a year's absence from the line! See them HERE and HERE Also, note that I have added two more shape descriptions to the LB shape chart page - They are the shape 71 (a bent Canadian) and the shape 72 (the fat dwarf).
October 20th, 2005 - While the Halloween pipes have been getting all the attention this month, I have managed to make a few other pipes in and around the production schedule. Amusingly, I made the four new Ligne Bretagnes just posted during, and after, the work on the Mother of Grendel. Sometimes I just had to get away from that pipe, and work on something else for a little while! These four new pipes are also different in that they are the first to have liquid metal shank inlays - something I intend to use more often as I like both the look, the added strength, and the workability of the material. It is, literally, mixed metal powder in binder, properly balanced and tinted, then poured into each shank ring by hand. Once it dries, it is sanded down and polished, and won't risk falling off like some bands and shiny bits can. Also, this is the debut of the Ligne Bretagne stem logo. I conceived of it as purely functional - an inlaid drop of liquid metal, again, with one dot for each grade of the pipe so everyone can see when you're smoking that grade 4 or 5! ;)
See the new pipes here:
Smooths
Rusticated
October 16th, 2005 - The latest Halloween pipe is posted - the Mother of Grendel. I hope to post another one, possibly two, and then the auction will set a closing date.
October 10th, 2005 - For those who may not have noticed the change, our "Photos of the Moment" pages have become full-blown blogs, with regularly-updated photos and writing, and they allow visitor participation in the form of comments for each article. Hope you enjoy!
October 9th, 2005 - In the midst of the Halloween pipe work, we've managed to finish up a few new mortas for Pipe & Pint in the US. As I type, Emily is getting these polished and packed, ready to ship to P&P tomorrow. Here are some quick pics of the four - if you have any questions about a pipe or want to reserve a specific one, just call Larry at the Pipe & Pint at (336) 218-8610. I've tagged them with numbers to make any inquiries a little easier. They'll probably reach P&P sometime towards the end of next week or after. They make a nice set - three are bent pokers, and all of them are a bit larger than our typical Morta Classics.
October 1st, 2005 - I hope to be posting a couple of estate Sébilo mortas on ebay tomorrow, if time permits. Of possibly greater interest, however, is the new Halloween pipe just posted - the Nidhogg, gnawing wyrm from Norse myth.
September 25th, 2005 - I don't list things on ebay very often but I have a few random pipes to sell off, with no good idea of their potential pricing, so I'll be listing some stuff on ebay over the next several days. The majority of the pipes are Sébilo morta pipes, most pre-smoked, but I've just posted the only unsmoked one here:
http://minilien.com/?Z0c3uxv9fN
I've also posted a goofy little carved head made in St. Claude, seen here:
http://minilien.com/?mLI1XO5yi3
September 18th, 2005 - A big night for new pipes! I have just posted five new mortas and five new Ligne Bretagnes. The mortas are all morta Classics, so they should be relatively affordable, and there are four sandblasts and one new smooth posted to the catalogs HERE and HERE. Over in Ligne Bretagne, all five new pipes are our Shape 101, the largest LB straight billiard in the line, and again we have one smooth and four sandblasts. Sharp-eyed folks may notice some big empty spaces in the catalogs - I have removed the listings for the pipes over at Pipe & Pint in the US. Many of the listed pipes were already sold anyway, and it was this sort of confusion which prompted me to drop them from the online catalog - communication delays were prompting too many people to try and contact me for P&P pipes, trying to order pipes that had already sold over there, etc. So, now the online catalogs for Ligne Bretagne, Talbert Briar, and Talbert Morta will all be for our stock here only. When I have new pipes to send to P&P, I will probably post a group shot to the news page and leave it at that. Pipe & Pint can sell everything we send them to local buyers anyway, so the online listings have been more of a nuisance than anything. I hope this will make the catalogs simpler and clearer for everyone.
September 15th, 2005 - Another Halloween pipe is posted, the Undine. See the Halloween pipe pages for full info.
September 11th, 2005, pt 2 - I've just finished reworking the 'Photo of the Moment' page to move it onto the main menu of the site. Before, it was too buried in the 'Life in France' section and I thought it was getting enough traffic that it ought to be easier to locate. So, now the POTM can be reached from the main menu to the left. Also, I've added another POTM page for pipe photos. I'll try to update these very often also, just as the original POTM. I wanted to add a little something for both pipe people AND expat fans to enjoy!
September 11th, 2005 -The first of the Halloween pipes has just been posted. I hope to have more to come shortly. For full info, see the Halloween News and FAQ pages HERE Emily is working on a new set of our largest straight billiard Ligne Bretagne shapes while I do Halloween work, and I hope to have those posted soon - we're making some for our stock here and some to send over to P&P. Also, we should have some new mortas to post in a week or so.
September 1st, 2005 -I've just posted five new Talberts, probably the last Talbert Briars that will be posted until after the Halloween season is over, as I start today full-time on the Halloween pipes. I hope that five will last a while and not all sell immediately. All are variations of the Elephant's Foot shape - three smooths and two sandblasts. I've been able to get more smooths out of my briar since changing the way I shaped and drilled, so I hope that there will be more of a mix in the future, with smooths more available. I'm pleased with all of these new ones (EF #4 is particularly nice, as well as the Signature grade smooth). See them HERE (for the sandblasts) and HERE (for the smooths)
August 26th, 2005 - I've just posted another Ligne Bretagne handmade Collector, a rusticated, thick-walled churchwarden with a bent stem. See it HERE
August 10th, 2005 - Three new Talbert Briars are posted, two smooths and one sandblast. These were done for a special order that was fairly open-ended, so I played around a bit, and the briar itself ended up dragging me further afield than I had expected. The order was for a sandblast similar to the 99 Yule pipe, but the finished pipes hardly resemble this at all, and in fact are quite different from each other also!
August 2nd, 2005 - There is a new LB Collector posted. It's a large straight rusticated piece at an excellent price for one of the handmade pipes. See it HERE
August 1st, 2005 - I've added an RSS feed to the site, two channels in fact. This is an experiment to see if people find it useful. Obviously there won't be nearly as much changing content as the usual blogs and news sites, but it may be a handy way for interested people to be sure of getting immediate notices when new pipes are posted. More info can be found at the link above.
July 30th, 2005, pt 2 - I've just posted three new Talbert Briars. These are all variations of the Blowfish shape, something I did for a special order for a very good customer. He's already picked his pipe and the rest are now available for sale. And, after too many long months without, one of them is green.... See them HERE and HERE
July 30th, 2005 - One little update. I finally set aside a little time to write a "Three Years On" report for the "Life in France" section, and that is now posted there under "Adventures".
July 25th, 2005 - We close out bamboo-shanked morta production for the moment with two more sandblasts. We've finally gotten a little bit ahead of the demand and have a few in stock, so it's time to turn our attention elsewhere, probably 100% to Talbert Briars in anticipation of the coming Fall Halloween pipe season. See the new mortas HERE.
June 21st, 2005 - I've just posted a rusticated Ligne Bretagne Collector-grade churchwarden. It has a small story behind how it came to be - read about it HERE.
July 19th, 2005 - Six new pipes to see! In Talbert Briars, I've finished the Elephant's Foot order and posted three new sandblasts in this (more or less) shape to the Blasts page HERE. I had hoped to post four but one of them turned out to be QUITE interesting in the way the grain was laid out, and I ended up dramatically reshaping the block and making it into another Halloween pipe for this year's set. Over in Talbert Mortas, three new bamboo-shank mortas are posted, two smooths and a blast with a pleasantly wicked look about it. See them HERE and HERE.
July 6th, 2005 - I've just finished and posted another new Talbert Briar sandblast, this time a huge bamboo-shanked piece that I suppose could be called a horn. I decided to go ahead and post it by itself since I'm about to be busy finishing up four elephant's foot shapes for a special order, and it will be a while until the next update.
July 3rd, 2005, pt 3 - More shop sell-out stuff. I've posted a random selection of LB seconds, wall pipes, etc, all HERE. Again, I'll let the sale run for the next couple of days and then whatever is left will be off to Pipe & Pint.
July 3rd, 2005, pt 2 - At the opposite end of the universe from the Talbert Briar pipes just posted, I have a bunch of cobs to get rid of. Pipe & Pint has offered to take them, but I thought I would try posting them for big discounts first, to see if anyone on this side of the ocean wanted to buy a cheap box full of cobs before they all ship overseas. I'll send them in a couple of days if they don't sell, though. You can have a look at the sale page here
Also, I've still got one very nice Ropp available - normally a 60 € pipe, now available for 25 € TTC (that's 20.90 for everyone outside the EU). You can have a look at it here.
July 3rd, 2005 - Recently I finished up a special order for a Zulu shape. In order to offer the buyer some variety, I made three variations of the design for him to pick among (something I'm trying to do on more of the orders these days). He's chosen the one he wants and the rest are posted to the catalog on the Sandblasts page HERE. There's also a new smooth pipe posted - a Signature grade. It's an interesting piece, probably worth seeing even if you're not shopping for pipes in that price range! See it in the Smooths catalog HERE There are also four new mortas posted (it's been a busy week). One of them is a bamboo shank. Another is a smooth with a deeper bend than usual. See them HERE and HERE.
June 28th, 2005 - I've just finished up three Talbert Briar Zulus, which will be posted in a day or two. I had a request from a regular buyer for a Zulu shape and I thought I'd make three to choose from, so whichever ones he doesn't pick will be going up on the site. Here's a little preview:
Also, a couple of these pipes made a great comparison example regarding sandblasts. I was talking to some folks over on Tyler's pipemaking board recently about the variance in briar, and how it was hard to tell if your technique was wrong or if the briar was different. The two pipes pictured below were both blasted nearly identical, though I did adjust the procedure to accomodate their different hardnesses. I think they make a great example side-by-side of just how much difference the briar can make. Personally, I wouldn't call either one superior, because they are two very different grain orientations (and especially ring tightnesses), but the contrast is obvious.
June 23rd, 2005 - Three new Morta Classics are posted, two of which are bamboo shanks. All are blasts, and are some very nice pieces if I do say so. The large poker, especially, should make someone very happy! See them HERE. Also, note that I goofed after the last update, and had mistakenly marked a pipe sold that was not, so there is another poker available as well. It is listed just below the three new pipes.
June 14th, 2005, pt 2 - More pipes posted! I've just posted one new Talbert Briar (a smooth bamboo-shank piece) and three new morta Classics. Two of the mortas are blasts, while the third is a smooth. I am about to dive into some accumulated orders so Talbert Briars will probably be thin on the ground for the next month or two, especially since I'm gradually working more and more on Halloween pipes. See the new Talbert Briar in the Smooths catalog HERE, and the new mortas in the Sandblast and Smooth catalogs.
June 14th, 2005 - Well, that last post about Ligne Bretagnes wasn't quite accurate - I basically got carried away and went on to finish another four LBs, but that is definitely the last for the moment, as I have Talbert Briar work seriously backed up. I hope the LBs in stock now will serve to get us through the summer, or at least for a month or so. I have massively cleaned and tidied the catalog pages, removing all sold pipes as well as fully updating the Pipe & Pint-listed pipes according to what is still in their stock. So, if the catalog pages seem different, rearranged, and "new", that's why. Also, I've added two more shapes to the "Shape Notes" area, progressing further toward my goal of cataloging all the LB designs. Of the new pipes, two are blasts and two are smooths, and the smooths are VERY nice indeed. See them HERE and HERE There should be another update coming very shortly with new mortas and a new Talbert Briar.
May 31st, 2005, pt. 2 - Three more new Talbert Briar sandblasts are posted, and again I've managed to get them in comparative ranking order, in grades 2, 3, and 4. Check them out in the Sandblasts catalog HERE
May 31st, 2005 - I've just posted two new smooth morta Classics in the Smooth catalog HERE - enjoy!
May 30th, 2005 - Two more Ligne Bretagnes posted, and this finishes out the LB run for the moment! Emily will be working on some mortas this week and I'll be working exclusively on Talbert Briars, so we probably won't make more LBs for at least a week or more. I've posted the quirky stuff last - one green bent and a somewhat bizarre Collector. See them HERE and HERE
May 28th, 2005 - pt 2 - Three more Ligne Bretagne sandblasts have been posted. Two are more of the shape 100's, while the third is a more unusual shape 11 canted design. See them HERE
May 28th, 2005 - Today we celebrate the third anniversary of our arrival in France! I need to write a "Three Years On" article for the French section but just haven't had the time. The weather here has been fantastic for the past couple of days, and we hit the beach at Pen-Bé for the first 'immersion' of the summer. Warm water, high tide, fantastic sunset.
And another pair of LBs are up, one smooth churchwarden and a sandblast. We're nearing the end of this production run of LBs and I think we have enough stock to last us here - there are only a couple more to finish up and then I'll be finishing some more Talbert Briars. I've been pleased with this LB run. I think we've got some fun, previously unseen LB shapes, and I've also managed to finish up three prototypes for the Fumeurs club pipe (which I get to smoke now!) See the latest LBs HERE and HERE
May 26th, 2005 - Two more Ligne Bretagnes are posted, one large smooth billiard (with grain to see!) and a rusticated bent "tall egg" - our first rusticated pipe in stock in a while. See them HERE and HERE
May 23rd, 2005 - Another new LB is up, in one of the funky and rare #32 shapes, and I've added shape 32 details to the shape notes pages also. See it in the Smooths catalog, top of the listing.
May 22nd, 2005 - Three new LBs posted in a new shape, the 100. These are oval-shanked billiard styles with a slightly forward-tilted bowl. For the first example of the series, of course, it had to be green! See it in the Smooths catalog, top of the listing. The other two are both blasts, and can be found at the top of the Sandblasts catalog listing. In other news, since we've found a lot of new shapes and are having to reorganize our shape charts anyway, I've started a new style of listing for the shape notes with the shape 100. Rather than just show the stummels raw, I'll try to post composite pics of finished examples of the design, complete with notes. This is really just to make ordering a little easier for Pipe & Pint, but probably visitors will find the pages interesting too.
May 20th, 2005, pt 2 - Just posted one more smooth Ligne Bretagne, one of the popular large apples, in a beautiful natural finish. See it in the Smooths catalog, top of the listing.
May 20th, 2005 - I've agreed to try making the club pipe for the FumeursdesPipe French group, for next year, and have recently been doing a bit of digging in the briar cavern to see if I could find anything unusual and different that would serve as a good reproducible Ligne Bretagne group pipe shape. Emily and I carried our portable lamps over and spent an afternoon shifting crates of briar and stummels around, and turned up quite a few things that we didn't know we had (one surprise discovery was a five kilo crate of stems!). Look for a number of new LB shapes to be appearing on the site over the next couple of weeks as we try out some of the various new finds. I've just posted the first examples of these. One excellent discovery was a hidden stash of large straight billiards, of the style that I thought we'd sold the last of! I'd guess we have about 20-30 more, where I'd previously thought they were all gone. One of them is posted now. All the LBs will be for our stock here for the moment, so they won't be going to Pipe & Pint, but eventually as I get some more stuff built up in our empty inventory here, I'll start sending over some of these newer styles to P&P also. Right now there are three new pipes posted - See them all in the Smooths catalog, top of the listing. The silliest thing we found were some piles of miniature stummels - tiny bent billiards and bulldogs that were barely 1" long, shank and all, with bowls perhaps 1/2" high. Look for Emily to be making some amusing earrings sometime soon...
Oh, and I should also mention that the shape numbers for LBs are taking a wee holiday. Since we've begun dismantling the retail shop, one of the first things to come down has been the handy LB shape number display, leaving me forced to dig through a bucket of stummels every time I want to number one little pipe. Bother and laziness win out, and so the LBs will likely just be getting called "Billiard #5" and whatnot for a bit of time to come.
In one last bit of news, see my entry posted above for the story of the Paris pipe show, and why I won't be going.
May 9th, 2005, pt 2 -Just a very quick notice, for those who are interested, there's a new entry page pic up in the "Life in France" section, plus a note about why updates there have been a bit delayed.
May 9th, 2005 -For those folks who could not attend Chicago, I have three new Talbert Briars for "feel better". All are blasts, and of course one is green.. Check them out in the Sandblasts catalog HERE
April 23rd, 2005 - In Ligne Bretagne news, I've just posted a first for Ligne Bretagne - the first-ever grade 5 pipe of the line. See it in the Smooths catalog, top of the listing. I've also just posted the largest morta catalog update ever, with 12 new pipes available! I hope that, for once, there will be enough for everyone and good odds of finding that one perfect pipe. The majority of the new pipes are blasts but there are a few smooths. Three of the new pipes are Signature grade handmades (one smooth, two blasts), while five of them are a totally new line - the morta Bamboo Classic. We've been working on these for a while now, because utilizing a bamboo shank solves many of the problems of morta and allows us to use nearly the entire block for the bowl. This helps greatly to keep the bowls larger in size and provide a more "normally" proportioned pipe. The Bamboo Classics are a little more expensive than the standard Classics, but they still provide a very good value. The odds are good that this may be the last big morta update for the year - it is certainly the last update including Signature grades for a long time to come, as it is well into Halloween pipe time now and my working time is going to be split between Talbert Briars and Halloween pieces. Enjoy!
April 4th, 2005 - Our entire Ligne Bretagne stock, plus the bamboo-shanked Talbert Briar "Herbignac" (in the Smooths catalog) have been packed up and shipped overseas to Pipe & Pint in the US. All the website entries have been changed to reflect comparitive USD prices and attach Pipe & Pint in the "How to Buy" notices. Anyone interested in any of these pipes is encouraged to telephone P&P at (336) 218-8610, and Larry can handle your requests!
March 26th, 2005 - pt 3 -Four new Talbert Briars are posted, three blasts and one smooth. Two are bamboo-shanks while the other two could not be more contrasted to each other - a straight ring-grain Dublin and a wild new shape dubbed the "Iris" which is a bit of a twist on my Ibex design. Check them out in the Sandblasts catalog HERE and in the Smooths HERE
March 26th, 2005 - pt 2 - Two more LBs have been added, and this finishes out our LB production run for the moment! Some or many of these will probably be going to Pipe & Pint in the US, so EU buyers should probably shop somewhat quickly if anything in particular catches the eye. We are moving back to Talbert Briar production and morta production so this is all the LBs until probably May or June, excepting the odd pipe here and there. I've just posted another "big billiard" sandblast and yet another green Collector. Eventually I know that I will exhaust the supply of green pipe buyers and get to keep one here for our shop...
March 26th, 2005 - Four new Ligne Bretagnes are added - one blast and three smooths. Two of the smooths are particularly interesting, one because it is one of only two BIG billiards that we found, and the other because it is the first example of a new and very elegant shape. Also, all the smooths came out just gorgeous, with excellent cross-cut grain displays. Smooths can be visited HERE and sandblasts HERE.
March 25th, 2005 - The Ligne Bretagne updates continue! We're into some more unusual shapes at the moment, though the pipes just posted are mainly classical designs (including some of the always-popular Canadians). There is also one quite large straight billiard blast. Smooths can be visited HERE and sandblasts HERE.
March 20th, 2005 - Hello again, this is Emily, posting a clutch of LB churchwardens and semi-paneled shapes that have kept me busy over the last week. Shape no. 1 is a classic long slender pipe with a decent-sized bowl for any of you churchwarden-lovers out there; shape 23 has bulldog ancestry but has six angled panels around the bowl top. All of these came out very light-weight. Smooths can be visited HERE and sandblasts HERE.
March 12th, 2005 - Hello everyone, this is Emily, making my first update to the website. I've added a trio of smooth Ligne Bretagne apples to the site - a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. This shape seems to yield a higher number of nicely-grained stummels than any other I've noticed so far, and these are in keeping with tradition. You can see them HERE.
March 10th, 2005 - I've added three more Ligne Bretagne sandblasts in a brand new shape (well, these are the first three examples of this shape that we have made into sellable pipes). It is a sort of fat little paneled pumpkin, and makes a nice fun design. See them HERE at the top of the list.
March 6th, 2005 - Yet another update, this time with three examples of our Ligne Bretagne shape 26, a sort of slender billiard. Two sandblasts and a smooth.
March 5th, 2005 - And good luck again! I've just finished and posted another Ligne Bretagne grade 4 sandblast, as well as a more pedestrian (and affordable) blast and a new smooth, all examples of our large Shape 14 straight apple. See them in the smooths and sandblasts catalogs HERE
March 4th, 2005 - A stunning Ligne Bretagne ring grain grade 4 sandblast is just posted, one of the nicest ring grain blasts I have ever seen, and certainly the equal of many pipes I've seen for three times the price. Also, there's a funky green Ligne Bretagne Collector posted (another of my attempts to make a lucky green pipe that won't sell, and can hang around here as shop inventory/display/charm for a few months). See the sandblast HERE and the Collector HERE
February 27th, 2005 -I've just added two new Talbert Briars (both sandblasts). I'd hoped to have more to post, but I've had some bad luck with the briar over the past weeks and also unfortunately I wasted quite a bit of time making a stem which I eventually messed up in the final stages. But, the pipe that resulted was worth the effort, because it is the huge bamboo-shanked ring-grain piece. It's expensive enough that it will probably be sitting around here for a while, but that will suit me fine as the thing looks fantastic as a display piece. See both pipes HERE. I've also posted four new morta Classics, one smooth and three blasts. The next update will (finally!) be some more Ligne Bretagnes, followed speedily by more Talbert Briars.
There is another item of interest. For the past few years I have been smoking a personal morta sandblast, a large ring-grain freehand poker that has been photographed with me in P&T and Cachimbos. I've had numerous inquiries to buy that pipe but have resisted for several reasons, but I've finally decided to offer it for sale by private auction. I'm not entirely sure anyone will bid, but it can't hurt to try. I will run the auction as I have run the Halloween pipe auctions - updating the current bid daily and closing bidding in a week, but not at an exact hour so as to discourage sniping. My advice is as always - bid what you think it's worth (if anything!), and don't fret about being outbid. The story of the pipe, and it's photo pages, can be seen HERE.
February 9th, 2005 -Three new Talbert Briar sandblasts have been added - amusingly, giving me a 1,2,3,4 grade progression in the grades of available pipes. Curious folks may perhaps get a better idea of where and how I divide pipes according to grain and quality. Check them out in the Sandblasts catalog HERE Also, three new mortas have been posted - two smooths and one blast.
For those who are interested in "behind the scenes" stories, here is one. The pipe below was the result of an interesting & challenging special order that came in back in December - a fellow asked if we could make a morta Classic in a horn shape. It was an intriguing idea, not because I particularly like horns but because it seemed nearly impossible - the smaller morta blocks simply don't have the length and proportions required to make a proper horn. Another problem was budget - namely, that horns are challenging shapes to make well (and I stress "well" - I've seen plenty of inexpensive horns that had lines and curves so lumpy they made me twitch). It takes a lot of work, ergo time and labor, to get a smoothly-curved horn shape with upper and lower curves in sync.. AND all this had to be done using a standardized stem!. Unfortunately this proved to be the killer for the idea - I was able to engineer a workable solution using a briar shank extension to help create the horn shape, but it was quite a bit of labor for a pipe selling at $200 and the curves and lines really needed another couple hours of work to look as smooth as I wanted... something I'm not entirely sure is even possible given the dimensions of this morta bowl. So, for the moment I have had to drop the idea as unworkable and move on to other projects. Here is the test pipe I made, though, for entertainment's sake. It's definitely too lumpy and crude to ever sell, so I seem to have gained another workshop smoker.
January 22nd, 2005 -Two more Talbert Briars just posted - and what a contrast! Check them out in the Sandblasts catalog HERE. Also, sometimes I get to keep one myself - we finished up this morta below and unfortunately broke one of the prime rules of sandblsting, which is "If it's going to be blasted, always blast before wasting time doing detail finishing, just in case...". Well, this was an "in case", and the blast opened up a fair-sized crevice in the side. I've patched it with ground morta and cement so it should be a good smoker, if not sellable. I'll enjoy smoking it, though, and it will make a handy test pipe for our final Morta Classic logo insert.
January 13th, 2005 -In non-pipe news, I've posted pics and info on a "For Sale" country house that's being sold by a friend of ours, in the "Life in France" section. As for pipes, I've posted our first catalog update of 2005. There is one new Talbert Briar bamboo-shanked churchwarden sandblast, seen HERE, and two Talbert Morta blasts HERE, one of which is our first large Signature-grade morta (and bamboo-shanked to boot!)
January 2nd, 2005, pt 3 -I have finished the website updates. No big changes, just little nips and tucks here and there - I've finally posted more update dpics of my meers under "Resources", deleted some dead links, shuffled the "Other Pipes" section a little, and so forth. Now it's back to making pipes! Next up should be a giant Signature morta, a bamboo-shanked Talbert, and a couple of special-order mortas.
January 2nd, 2005, pt 2 -I've gone through the morta site area and made various updates. There are some changes to the "Creation" descriptions, the FAQ (and I've also added the FAQ link to the opening page, since previously no one could find it), and also the "Best Mortas of 2004" in the Gallery area.
January 2nd, 2005 -The Gallery section for Talbert Briars has been updated with my favorites for best Talbert Briars produced in 2004.
January 1st, 2005 - Bonne Année to everyone! Let's all hope this year will bring better things than the last one, too! We've had a fairly quiet holiday season here in Herbignac. We spent our first New Year at home rather than out at parties, and got to relax on the couch and watch the French circus/party/gala on TV. Over the next few days I'll be moving things around on the site a bit, adding "Best of" galleries, etc. If I were going to make any resolutions for 2005, they would be simple - I WILL start on the Halloween pipes earlier this year so there will be more of them, and overall I want to be more experimental with Talbert Briars. I just want to make more Talbert Briars in general - all the work on getting Ligne Bretagne established and redoing our home interior has caused Talbert Briar production to drop off way too much, and I'd like to get them back up to that 40-50 a year level if possible. Besides, I can't really indulge my perfectionistic drives on LBs, and I miss spending half a day just filing and finishing the interior of one bit. The one likely change this year will probably be dropping the Yule pipes completely - it's just too much to do and worry with from September through December, coming right on the heels of the Halloween pipes, and I'd rather be able to enjoy the holidays a little. I'm sure I'll do some sort of seasonal pipe, but I don't think a series of LBs will be done again.
In immediate news, I have just posted two new Ligne Bretagne Collector pipes - the last two pipes finished in 2004! See them here:
bretagnecollector.shtml
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