Where is Todd Johnson?

[achduliebe]

Is Todd Johnson still around?

I check his site every couple of months or so but there have not been any changes in about a year. I haven't seen him post here in quite a while either.

Hopefully he is just busy busy busy making killer pipes.

Anybody heard from him lately?

[Nick]

I think Todd has taken a sabatical from pipe making to run his father's business. At least that's what I heard a few months ago.

[LatakiaLover]

No one gets rich making pipes. The very, VERY best in the world---only a handful---earn about as much as an entry level manager in a large corporation.

There are a fair number of good pipemakers, Mike Butera probably being the best known, who simply decide that the treadmill of shop work isn't how they want to spend the rest of their days. It isn't that they don't love doing it, they just love something else more. Money usually figures in there somewhere.

With today's yoot (Hi there, Kurt! ), having options is quite a filter. In times past, craftsmen often had little choice but to grind forward. You were what you did, and that was pretty much that. Not nearly so much these days. People who want to try their hand at a variety of things can usually find a way.

[sethile]

I heard from Bruce Weaver that Todd moved to Nashville to help run his fathers business, and has yet to set his shop back up. He still plans to make pipes once he gets settled. I miss him too!

[bscofield]

<whispering gossip tone > Well I heard that he was going to run the business full-time and just make the occasional pipe. </whispering gossip tone>

[achduliebe]

Wow, thanks guys. I am really surprised by that but don't blame the guy a bit. Specially having a child now, that kind of changes the picture a bit.

Good for Todd, I look forward to seeing him back on the pipe scene even if it is only on occasion.

Thanks guys!