Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

For the things that don't fit neatly into the other categories.
Post Reply
pipedreamer
Posts: 1056
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by pipedreamer »

Well Todd and helper or partner, have done it. Appears to be two lines of high grade pipes. According to article I read, they can make about anything. What are your opinions on this. I would like to know their process, my self. Pictures were nice, as well as pricing. What do you think?
User avatar
sandahlpipe
Posts: 2106
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:49 pm
Location: Zimmerman, MN
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by sandahlpipe »

I think they are using a machine to rough the stummels and stems and then finishing them by hand. I think they're filling a gap in the market for high quality pipes at an affordable price range, but they're not really competing with 100% handmade pipes. I don't know that I would be a customer, because I enjoy the personality that goes into a 100% handmade pipe. I think that they may help improve the market over the long run for handmade pipes, because they seem to be a higher level than the typical factory pipes. I think it will also help prod those charging similar prices to need to up their game to stay competitive. If it does that, I think we will all be better off to see a higher quality of pipe at all levels of the pipe business.
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
http://sandahlpipe.com
User avatar
baweaverpipes
The Awesomer
Posts: 947
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:07 am
Location: Franklin, Tennessee
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by baweaverpipes »

If you know Todd Johnson, you can be assured these are extremely well crafted, from the bit to finish. Pete Prevost oversees production. Pete is a gifted pipe maker and finicky about detail. Rest assured, these pipes are spot on. I was blown away when I first saw their line of pipes. Yes, they are factory, but nothing like this has been done before, regarding attention to detail.
pipedreamer
Posts: 1056
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by pipedreamer »

I agree with both of you. I think this is a good thing for the industry. It will probably shake up some of the factories only doing what they have to. It's exciting, as the pictures were really good! I can hardly wait to see the whole lineup. Todd can come up with some really great pipes imho.
kamkiel
Posts: 405
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 10:35 am
Location: Chongqing, China

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by kamkiel »

I just finished reading the whole briarworks international website and it got me pretty excited.
User avatar
sethile
Posts: 770
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
Location: Murray, KY
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by sethile »

These are the only production pipes that have really impressed me, and the price point should be a game changer. If they can make money and meet the demand without driving themselves crazy in the process I think they're going to be very successful with this.

If I were a younger person getting into this for my life's work I'd seriously consider starting out there. Todd's offer sounds like a solid 2 year paid apprenticeship with benefits, and a possible future. That's about as hard to beat as their price point.
Scott E. Thile
Collector, smoker, and aspiring pipemaker.
http://sethilepipes.com
Sysop: http://pipedia.org
---------------------
The Smoking Yeti
Posts: 1346
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by The Smoking Yeti »

I'm incredibly impressed with what I've seen so far. Honestly a lot of their shapes have as much/more personality than 99% of handmade pipes in the same price range. Unless by personality you mean poor shaping and sanding marks. Of course, there are exceptions to what I'm saying, but they're just that- exceptions.
My pipemaking stream of conscience/ website:

http://yetipipe.tumblr.com/
User avatar
oklahoma red
Posts: 1084
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:14 pm

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by oklahoma red »

I, for one, am intrigued by what TJ and Pete are doing and how they are doing it. Obviously to meet the price point you have to slash the labor costs which means machines and more machines. Their site mentions producing more than one style in the same day which, in my thinking if I were doing it, one or more CNC duplicating machines and most likely multi-spindle. The goal being to get a near-net shaped stummel coming off of the machine. With modern equipment I would suspect this is much easier to do than with the frazing machines of yesteryear. If the stummels are good enough coming off of the machine one could possibly go straight to blasting with very little or no sanding. If one has deep enough pockets the blasting can be semi-automated. Their smooths cost more, as they should, because more labor is involved. Stems: two ways as I see it. Either mold them or rough them on a small 4 axis mill. I may be all wet but I cannot see the stems being cut by hand from rod stock.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I had heard that TJ had initially trying to get the pipes made in China but the quality just was not up to his standards.
I've ordered one of his pipes and I'm anxious to see what he and Pete have been able to accomplish.
Todd, if you're out there we'd love to hear the story behind this game-changer.
The Smoking Yeti
Posts: 1346
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by The Smoking Yeti »

To my understanding the stems are modified premolds. The internals on the stems are exceptional for factory pipes. I think the Neptune pipes have a fair amount of hand-work done on them. More than the Icarus.
My pipemaking stream of conscience/ website:

http://yetipipe.tumblr.com/
User avatar
baweaverpipes
The Awesomer
Posts: 947
Joined: Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:07 am
Location: Franklin, Tennessee
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by baweaverpipes »

Todd may correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Neptune are milled Ebonite rod stock. The Icarus are Lucite.
User avatar
Thomas Tkach
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:40 am
Location: Philly-ish
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by Thomas Tkach »

I was considering buying one for my most recent purchase. You can't get many of those shapes from any other factory pipe.

And if you're looking to try one out, P&C is giving 3 tins of tobacco to every purchaser: a tin of Escudo, a tin of Hearth & Home Marquee Blackhouse, and a tin of 4th Generation 1957.
On land, at sea, at home, abroad,
I smoke my pipe and worship God.

http://tatmakesthings.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/tkachta1?feature=mhee
User avatar
ToddJohnson
Posts: 1366
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2006 8:00 pm
Location: Nashville, TN
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by ToddJohnson »

Hey Guys (and Gals)

Below is the Briarworks pipe-story in a nutshell for anyone who's interested.

First, to answer Oklahoma Red's question, yes, we started a factory in China to produce pipes specifically for the Chinese market. After about a year and a half of traveling to and from China, I realized that the pipes were only getting produced to my standards when I was physically at the factory. Then I was faced with the decision either to move to China for a couple years or accept the level of quality that our workers were capable of in my absence.

So I met with a realtor there, put down a deposit on a nice Villa in the Happy Golden Rainbow Unicorn-Dragon Paradise Palace neighborhood, got my Chinese work-Visa, and readied my wife and three young children for an adventure of indeterminate length. A month before we were set to leave, I woke up one morning and just pulled the plug. I decided that, if I was going to realize a 15+ year dream of creating the finest production pipes the world had ever seen, I was going to have to do it from here. On that note, is anybody in the market for five open-ended first class tickets to Shanghai? :)

So Pete and I got to work designing the equipment we would need to produce shapes never before possible in a "factory" pipe. We contracted with a company to build these machines and, after six months of being extremely dissatisfied, Pete and I donned our welding hoods and went to work building them ourselves. Fortunately, I spent nearly a decade building high end street rods and motorcycles, and Pete was a professional welder for about eight years. The first machines were "stick built" from sketches on napkins and copy-paper. It took us two and a half months of 60 hr weeks to do it, but we created something entirely new, cut from whole cloth. We laid every bead, tightened every bolt, and ran every wire. People may say the pipes are "machine made" (which isn't really accurate), but if that's true, I can tell you that the machines making them was definitely hand made.

After we finished building the machines, there were a couple months of testing and prototyping before we were able to generate any real production. Since then, we've built four additional machines, upgrading each of the previous models as we've tweaked and improved the design. We now have additional machinery in the works and are currently able to produce about 2000 pcs/month. We've hired and trained a team of personnel to finish the pipes to handmade standards, and I can honestly say I'm proud of every single pipe that goes out the door. We've recently brought on three very skilled pipe makers (which I'm sure will become "public" knowledge soon enough), and are hoping to add more.

One of the things I can tell you is that every single person we have working for us--many of whom had never touched a pipe before--can now finish a pipe better (and faster) than just about anyone else on this forum. Plus they've got healthcare and paid vacations. :) I don't mean that as a sharp stick in the eye. I'm simply saying that our guys (and gals) have an opportunity to finish a year's worth of handmade production every week and they're doing it using a process that I've taught them. There's no better training ground than this if you're actually serious about being a pipe maker.

We've had a 19-year old intern here for the past 7 weeks, and when he arrived he knew nothing. He was simply interested in the craft of making pipes and came to us as part of a work/study program at his University in Vermont. Yesterday, I watched him shape, drill, sand, contrast stain, polish, bowl coat, and stamp a pipe that's better than 90% of the so called "Indie Artisan" stuff I see on Instagram. Plus, he did it in a matter of hours, not days. My point is that we are doing real pipe making here, and we are training real pipe makers. I was making pipes before the Internet was even a useful source of information, so I know what it's like to fumble around in the dark trying to figure out what on earth you're doing and how you're gonna manage to do it. Briarworks offers an actual path for learning what goes into a high quality pipe and then provides the repetition to hone key skills in the process. Like Scott said, it really is like a paid apprenticeship in the best equipped, most capable pipe making shop on planet Earth. If you can't come out of here as a capable pipe maker, it's simply not going to happen . . . ever.

On another forum I read a comment from one of the BeardBro pipe makers (my term not his) replying to a potential Icarus customer. He basically said "It's a nice looking pipe, but there are a hundred more exactly like it." He's wrong about that; there are actually a thousand more exactly like it, and that's something I'm proud of. The whole point is excellence in design, engineering, fit-and-finish, and absolute consistency. You should know exactly what you're getting every time, and that is a beautiful, perfectly engineered smoking machine at an unbeatable price. That's what we do here.

His point, as I took it, was that his Indie Artisan pipes were all "unique" and full of "character," whereas the Icarus pipe was serially produced. Problem is, "unique" often means you lack the skill to make two pipes exactly the same by hand, and more often than not, "character" is code for the lumpy shaping and scratches that Micah mentioned.

We have a customer who owns 22 Neptune Dublins, all of which are technically the "same" shape, but every single one of them is different! He knows how comfortable the bit is going to be, he knows what to expect from the fit-and-finish, and above all he knows every single pipe will smoke as well as anything else in the world, my own pipes included. We don't just have automatons doing the same thing over and over. Every member of our team makes decisions about how to finish a given pipe, whether or not to use an adornment, what type, what color, what style mouthpiece, etc. The idea is to offer the consumer a nearly infinite variety of styles using the shape merely as a jumping-off point.

So just to clear the air here, let me say this. If your goal is to make excellent pipes that demonstrate respect for the craft and for the customer parting with his/her hard-earned money, you are absolutely not in Briarworks' crosshairs. In fact, I've personally spent the past 15 years trying to help anyone who is genuinely striving for excellence as a pipe maker, a fact I hope many here can attest to. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I've also created some monsters in the process, and as a result, the market seems to be littered with hastily wrought $400 pipe-turds of late. If you are a purveyor of such pipe-turds, make no mistake, I strive with every fibre of my being to drive you out of the market and back to the hole whence you came, so that consumers and real pipe makers alike no longer have to suffer the indignity of your existence.

That's all for now.

TJ
User avatar
oklahoma red
Posts: 1084
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:14 pm

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by oklahoma red »

Very interesting. I definitely wish you and your team great success. I personally have purchased two (one of each line) and I will attest to their bang for the buck. Onward and upward.
caskwith
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 am

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by caskwith »

Dammit, he wants to flush away my pipe turds! lol.

Very interesting read, sounds like quite the project you have undertaken, I wish you the best with it, I have the greatest respect for those that set out to realise their dreams, you certainly have more courage and balls than myself.
Ocyd
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun May 10, 2009 2:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by Ocyd »

I know it shouldn't but bowl coating always makes me think someone is trying to hide something. Even if the reputation is beyond reproach. I wish I could've grown up next to a pipe factory :(
The Smoking Yeti
Posts: 1346
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by The Smoking Yeti »

caskwith wrote:Dammit, he wants to flush away my pipe turds! lol.

Very interesting read, sounds like quite the project you have undertaken, I wish you the best with it, I have the greatest respect for those that set out to realize their dreams, you certainly have more courage and balls than myself.
Hate to say it Chris, but I don't think Todd was talking about you :(

Thanks for the condensed history Todd! I enjoyed it immensely, and I appreciate and agree with your mission statement- flush the pipe turds!

The struggle is real!

Cheers!

Comrade Yeti
My pipemaking stream of conscience/ website:

http://yetipipe.tumblr.com/
User avatar
sandahlpipe
Posts: 2106
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 8:49 pm
Location: Zimmerman, MN
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by sandahlpipe »

I think "Flush the pipe turds" needs to be the new PMF tag line.
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
http://sandahlpipe.com
User avatar
d.huber
Posts: 2691
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:28 pm
Location: Durham, NC
Contact:

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by d.huber »

Thanks for taking the time to write up the back story, Todd. I really enjoyed reading it.

I'll admit, it took me a little while to feel positively about the venture. When I first read the website, it sounded to me like a declaration of war against hand made pipes.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that your new factory was, and is, great for the community that truly loves and cares about pipes. I hope that you're successful in shifting the tide away from poorly produced hand-mades, for all our sakes, and I wish you and Briar Works International all the success that you can handle.
http://www.dshpipes.com

"Strive for excellence, not for what someone else accepts."
-Tyler Beard
Massis
Posts: 938
Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:05 am

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by Massis »

d.huber wrote:Thanks for taking the time to write up the back story, Todd. I really enjoyed reading it.

I'll admit, it took me a little while to feel positively about the venture. When I first read the website, it sounded to me like a declaration of war against hand made pipes.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that your new factory was, and is, great for the community that truly loves and cares about pipes. I hope that you're successful in shifting the tide away from poorly produced hand-mades, for all our sakes, and I wish you and Briar Works International all the success that you can handle.

Exactly how I felt/feel about it. There's a tiny voice in my head saying ventures like this will be the death of me, but then the other voice points out that must be because I'm making pipe turds currently :lol:
pipedreamer
Posts: 1056
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:25 pm

Re: Machined pipes.New Factory in Nashville.

Post by pipedreamer »

As I stated before, this will shake up the factories and now the guys making pipes and charging out the ying yang for them. The guys that prize money over craftsmanship.There is always room for good pipes and Pipe Makers that have a dream that they are making come true. In our pages you can see where Todd has given the right advice and helped many.It has taken a lot of talent and hard work,not to mention fortitude, for Todd to get this rolling. We should support his efforts in every way we can.Imho this will only make the industry, as a whole, better!
Post Reply