pipemakersforum.com

I've got a PipNet and a Senior and I'll use the PipNet 95% of the time because it does a far more consistent job.

Halcyon and Paragon were both developed for people without buffing wheels. If you don't have a wheel, they're great solutions to keep your pipes relatively shiny. If you can buff with carnauba, do it instead. They're not geared toward makers - or even showroom shine freaks. Incidentally, Paragon is ...

Fine!

In that case, I second Barbary Coast. Most latakia blends are disgusting to a new pipe smoker, even if he has a past in cigars. Another nice one is Sam Gawith's 1792 flake.

McClelland Dominican Glory Maduro hooked a cigar smoker I know. He completely LOVES the stuff. And he barely bothers with cigars anymore.

Nice! I love how integrated the pipe community is... Yeah, I had 'pipe dreams' (sorry) of opening a pipe shop here in Seattle. They were unrealistic then cause real estate is ridiculously expensive and there's not a very large pipe smoking populace here. But now that the tobacco ban is in force, it'...

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is awesome. Highly recommended.

Spokane, eh Flix? I'm in Seattle! We're Tobacco Ban co-sufferers!

Man, that reminds me how much I still need to learn to draw. ME TOO! To that end I've been thinking about taking a drawing course here at the university where I work. My guess is that it would really help. I figure if I can't draw it, how can I possibly carve it? I know that we each find our own wa...

I'm curious about the same thing. Nice first effort, by the way!

Amazing how valuable it is to spend time with those ogres.

There comes a point where the prodigies start to look the same as those who've worked hard - everything balances out eventually. The prodigies get there faster, but they also tend to stay there longer.

Obie, isn't the creed of the graphic designer: 1. Never draw when you can trace 2. Never trace when you can copy 3. Never copy when you can cut and paste. :lol: Hey, that's what clip art is for, right? :roll: You just gotta love the uneasy conjunction of art and commerce. I completely agree that yo...

Man, that reminds me how much I still need to learn to draw. I wonder how this issue figures into the whole 'self-esteem' movement - the idea that anything I do is good enough just by nature of the fact that I did it - and the lack of direct competition and hard criticism. My best work comes when I'...

Nicely put. Thanks John!

John, that blast is gorgeous... plus I totally dig how you stained the smooth section - it fits perfectly with the cumberland bit.

Amazing work, as usual...

ToddJohnson wrote:...And, as Rad said, my point was only that there are pitfalls to despising the norms and those who master/appreciate them. As a craftsman it can lead to financial ruin...

And a painfully misplaced superiority complex.

So knowing the rules, learning and mastering them to stand upon them as a solid basis (to fly from to the sky by leaving them behind) is a way that is not contradictionary to being a creative mind. It may not be the only way. But there is no need to curse the rules. Knowing them very intimately is ...

Now I understand what you're saying, but I still think that the line between objectivity and subjectivity is much more subtle and much more blurry. Sometimes we like things because we subconsciously realize that they conform to the patterns we see in nature (objective), or visual principles which we...

David, who on earth is giving you the impression that to be aesthetically pleasing, your pipes need to correspond with specific measurements? Your pipes are plenty aesthetically pleasing. Why should there be absolutes in pipe making? There aren't absolutes in art. What I've been trying to say the wh...

Okay, first off, you're looking waaaay too hard at the concept of beauty being absolute. It's not an issue of beauty being absolute. It's an issue of beauty being a mixture of objective and subjective factors. However, there are rudiments of composition. Many photographers use the 'rule of threes' -...

Your confusion???

My sarcasm filter is on the fritz.

Um, are you serious?