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Old News:
• 4/14/2002 I have cleared out my studio now, and produced a big pile of old paintings and drawings in the process. Since we are scrounging for every penny we can get to pay for the move, I thought I would see if any of this stuff might sell, so for those who are interested, please check out: http://www.talbertpipes.pair.com/France/art.htm There are a few pipe-related pics mixed in with the throng but most are fantasy/horror illustrations done about 10 years ago. If nothing else, it might be an amusing insight into the background of a pipemaker.
I've just posted the largest catalog update in some time. These pipes have been made in my moments of spare time during the business purchase and move, and most are fairly simple in design compared to my norm but my focus was on not compromising the construction due to time constraints. Thus, the designs stayed simple and clean. Several of these pipes have already sold and they've been displayed at the TAPS show, but I'm posting even the sold ones just to have something different on the site, since it's been so long since anything was updated. There are new pipes across the board, from rustic to smooths, though the concentration is in smooths this time. I am an inveterate briar hoarder - whenever I find a really nice piece of Gold-quality briar, I'm more prone to set it aside for additional aging and finishing "someday" than to actually use it. This is one of the reasons so many of the pipes I sell are sandblasts (plus the fact that I personally prefer blasts). Since we are moving, however, I chose to finish some of the hoarded blocks in hopes of bringing in a bit more cash to help cover our gigantic expenses. I am in the process of switching the photos back to an all-white background so the catalog entries are a mixed group. Please forgive this varied presentation. They will likely be all white in the future. Pictured below is another pipe that would have been in this update, but it developed a tiny flaw at the last stage which turned out to go straight through the bowl into the chamber! I've filled it and lined the chamber interior and will keep it for myself, partly out of curiosity to see if it will leak or burn out at this spot.
This
pipe is interesting for a couple of other reasons. It may be the
first diamond-shanked pipe I've ever done! I've never been crazy
about diamond or square shanks but thought I would give it a shot
just for the experience. Also, the rustication was done with a handy
custom tool given to me by fellow NC pipemaker Bob Ray, who I met
at the TAPS show. Bob is a machinist and produced a really nice
tool specific to surface carving, with which I made the detailed
carve pictured above. Bob had a huge display of nice pipes at TAPS
and he makes a really well-done handmade for the $80-$120 range
(which seemed to represent most of the pipes at the show). I'm sorry
but I don't have an email address for him, though interested parties
can write for his snail mail address. Please
also check the updates on Emily's jewelry site Delving Designs and
our update to the Brittany site. • 3/7/2002 I'm still working on the France move but I do have a few pipes on the sidelines which I am trying to finish up. There should be a catalog update someday soon. I've just posted several items to ebay which might be of interest to my pipe customers: •
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1523189744
: The Bill Cosby 1994 issue of Cigar Afficionado. •
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1523190728
: The Rush Limbaugh 1994 issue of Cigar Afficionado. I've been told
this one was really popular with Rush fans. •
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1523192869
: 12 issues of my Pipe Friendly magazine collection. PF just recently
closed its doors so there will be no more where these came from.
These issues contain several articles taken from the pipemaking
section on this website and might serve as handy guides for amateur
pipemakers. •http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=850493207
: An original pen & ink drawing of mine from the days long before
pipemaking (though I was a smoker, collector, and pipe enthusiast
at this time and smoked a few bowls during the making of this piece).
This drawing garnered some mild critical attention in the form of
award, many reprintings, etc. Though it was only 10 years ago, it's
odd now to see a piece of illustrative art done entirely by hand,
without computer retouching. A small slice of pre-pipemaking Talbert
history! • 2/26/2002 All
the tobacco is gone, for the moment. I still have a small mountain
of undecided blends that I need to smoke my way through so that
I can make up my mind on which to keep and which to get rid of.
There will probably be more posted in the future. The news on the
Brittany site has been updated and I've added some review comments
from Dave Field on the morta pipes.
• 2/24/2002 I am
currently in the middle of sorting through my tobaccos and pipes
(as well as everything else) trying to decide what to take with
us to Brittany and what to get rid of. Along these lines, I have
just posted 4 estate pipes from my collection to ebay and they can
be seen at the following links:
I also
have some tins of GLP Stonehenge (not my taste) for sale for $20
each (a hike over their original retail, yes, but they are now all
gone and we are starving pipe people trying to cover a zillion dollar
move...). Also, I have an aged jar of F&P Aleister for sale
for $35+ shipping, including the glass jar. I've had this for at
least 3 years now and have kept it humidified with only distilled
water. Good stuff, but I didn't quite love it enough to pay shipping
on it to France.
• 2/7/2002 Finally it can be made public - Talbert Pipes is moving to Europe, specifically Brittany, France. I will be assuming control of the pipemaking workshop of Patrice Sébilo and will become the world's only morta pipemaker as well as continuing my Talbert briar pipes. The full story can be found at this site:
It's
great to finally be able to make this public. For many months now
my customers have listened to me complain about how busy I was,
yet my pipe output has been sporadic at best and I'm sure everyone
was wondering what the hell I was doing that was taking so much
time and energy. Now it can be told!
• 1/28/2002 I am
still wrestling with a couple of particularly complex pieces but
I have managed to turn out a few simple pipes in the meantime just
to give my brain a rest from carving tentacles. These three pipes
are posted in the freshly-cleaned Sandblasts section of the Catalog.
The freehand was done for a special request and I just posted it
for entertainment as it is sold.
• 1/15/2002 I have fully updated and revamped the "Best of Talbert Pipes" section in the pipe gallery. The years are now listed chronologically with some descriptions for each, so visitors can see more clearly (and with commentary) how my ideas have developed in action. Another
piece of important news is that Emily and I just discovered that
the email address given on her Delving Designs website has been
wrong for several months now! We have been crazily busy and haven't
noticed. I'm afraid she may have lost a lot of emails during this
time and that there may be people out there wondering why she never
responded. The address on the site was invalidated during a major
server restructuring done by our site provider. It is now fixed
and should be working OK.
• 1/2/2002 2002 is finally here and not a moment too soon! I think 2001 turned out to be a very stressful and hazardous year for everyone. We can all hope together that the new year will bring better days. Things have been very quiet here at the workshop and I've mainly been working on backorders. It will probably be some time yet before anything new goes up for sale. In lieu of posting any new pipes of my making, here are a few pics of the terrifying Tatum's Workshop pipe I received for Christmas this year. As always, its fungoid putrescence creates a sanity-threatening impression that leaves the mind reeling. It also smokes excellently! Unfortunately it proved as difficult to photograph as most complex pipes of its ilk. The smooth surface feels like leathery skin, albeit skin erupting with evil Yuggoth fungi. Enjoy!
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