Welcome
The
Tobacco Pipe
The hand crafted smoking pipe is an object of art, utility and
it is our heirloom. Clay, glass, stone, wood, ivory, porcelain,
metal, amber, meerschaum, antler, gourd, bone and shell have
all been used in making pipes. A tobacco pipe is crafted to
smoke and cherish. Through
an air of nostalgia the pipe travels from one person to another.
The
Pipesmoker
A pipesmoker may signify a jazz musician or a silent hunter
surveying a craggy vista. Smoking a pipe is often considered
a dignified action of the thoughtful. In this sense a pipe is
the catalystic accoutrement to a moments reflection. As a pipemaker
it is my pleasure to provide an original, handmade object for
someone. The right pipe is a gift that will accompany somebody
through time.
"It
is usual to start every morning between 3 and 4 o'clock and
proceed till 8 for breakfast, then continue steadily on until
an hour before dark, just so as to give the men time to prepare
for the night. The only rest allowed being at intervals of about
an hour, when all hands stop two or three minutes to fill their
pipes. It is quite a common way of expressing distance of one
place to another to say that it is so many pipes; and this,
amongst those who have travelled in the interior gives a very
good idea of the distance."
Quoted
from: Paul Kane's "Wanderings of an Artist" published
by Longman, Brown, Green, and Roberts in 1859 based on journals
completed between 1846 and 1848.
The
Pipe Wood
Parks Pipes are made of briar, the traditional pipe wood. Briar
was first used for pipecraft 350 years ago. Briar is the root
burl of the White Heath, a tree that grows in the arid regions
of the Mediterranean. Each burl is dug by hand. The wood is
cut into blocks, boiled and then air-dried in a cool and draft-free
environment for many years. This process corrects the moisture
content to equal that of its surroundings, at which point the
wood is fully aged. Pipesmokers and makers alike seek out the
briar because it exhibits a smooth smoke, enduring hardness
and delightful grain.
