Masters of Meerschaum … Distinctly Different Dynasties By Ben Rapaport Lately, conversation among some American antique meerschaum pipe collectors and a few meerschaum pipe smokers has become Fischer-centric. Why has this name become so center-stage? I don’t have a clue, but I, too, have an interest in the Fischers. A few were pipe carvers, household [...]
The North American pipe-carving contest taking place at the Greater Kansas City pipe show each year has become an event of major importance. The main idea of the competition is to promote and support the pipemakers of North America. Participants include carvers with decades of experience as well as hobbyists and those just a couple [...]
Svend Hangaard’s skills as a pipemaker continue to grow by Stephen A. Ross All Svend Hangaard wanted was to find an activity for the inmates at the jail where he was a warden while they awaited trials or transfers. With a collection of murderers, rapists, thieves, burglars and other, less nefarious criminals as his “guests,” [...]
By Neill Archer Roan Adam Davidson stared at his hands. Calloused and blistered with raw, red cracks on scraped knuckles, they ached from gouging grout and cutting tile. It was a bleak winter in Indiana, 2003, and Davidson was working yet another construction project. “I wasted my time in college. I’m wasting my life, now,” [...]
•By Russ Oechslin• Being so good at what he does keeps Tim West busy When a visitor walks downstairs to the basement workshop in Tim West’s suburban Columbus home, it’s immediately obvious just how much pipe repair work he has lined up. The incoming boxes from UPS and the Postal Service line one side of [...]
•By Stephen A. Ross• Peter Heeschen is grateful for all that pipemaking has given to him Danish pipemaker Peter Heeschen is a popular presence at pipe shows. He is easily approachable and enjoys talking to anyone who is near. Favorite topics of conversation for the soft-spoken Heeschen include fishing, travel and, of course, pipemaking, often [...]
Fred Hanna answers nine questions about his new book 1. What is the purpose of the book? To explore, explain and extol the glory and grandeur of pipe smoking at its very best. Along the way, I examine the characteristics of the great smoking pipes, exquisite tobaccos and the proper smoking and tasting skills necessary [...]
•By Tad Gage and Joe Harb• Altadis (now a part of Imperial Tobacco) has been one of the stalwarts of support for pipe smokers and a point player in fighting antitobacco legislation and taxation. The company’s selection of bulk and tinned tobacco is extensive. The Sutliff line of tinned pipe tobacco represents Altadis’ effort [...]
•By Marty Pulvers• Rad Davis achieves elegance in simplicity By way of background, I, and clearly many others, have found Rad Davis’ pipes, and Rad as well, to be intriguing. I’m not sure why on either count. If you are walking the show room floor in St. Charles, Ill., during the Chicago pipe show, Rad’s [...]
Recently I visited a friend in the hospital. He was having brain surgery (he came out fine, except he now claims not to recognize me—which I think is pure opportunism on his part) and was expected to be in the operating room four or five hours. I knew I’d want a pipe or two [...]
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