Fun Commission

[Sasquatch]

I was approached with the usual too good to be true bullshit sounding email "Love your work, I want two special pipes..." Yeah right. And lemme guess, you got 50 bucks too, right? You're a poor minister, or a leper, or your wife died and you want a pipe to commemorate her and just can't quite afford it...

No this guy actually wanted 2 pipes, starting with a huge Oom Paul.

And when someone tells ME they want a huge pipe, I sit 'im down and splain about huge. This guy wanted huge. Out comes the big briar. 7" elephant briar, giant pieces of prehistoric plateau to choose from. And on one piece, I just kind of scribbled a couple pipes, and the customer lights up - hey, yeah, two pipes from the same block? Awesome. So we're off. And incredibly, what I drew and what I made came out the same! And no pits or nothin.



So we got a monster Oom Paul and a mere XL size one to boot.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

Thats awesome! Good to see you didn't run into any huge pits, they look great. Is the flare in the stem an aesthetic choice, or does it serve another functional purpose?

[Sasquatch]

We just wanted to do something a little different in conjunction with the silver caps, I drew up a few stems and the customer liked the tear-drop idea.

[sandahlpipe]

Nice work. He's paying more than $50, too? That's a relief!

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

cool. thanks. and the silver caps to cover the draught holes? I may invest in some caps soon and try some huge bends when my new chuck jaws come in. Yeah, so i have like $60 (us) maybe you could pop 3 out of a block for me? Shouldnt take long. maybe a quick J.T. Cooke blast with white acrylic stems and a 9mm filter drilling?

[Sasquatch]

The drilling was not so severe as to require repair. There's a little notch in the mortise rim but nothing untoward.

[wdteipen]

Perfect example of how to orient a billiard on a plateaux block and two on the same block nonetheless. Really nice, Todd.

[pipedreamer]

This is one of the reasons you're awesome.As wayne stated, 2 good orientations on 1 block.The pipes look like real smokers, and to think you did it for just 65$
P.S.
just kidding about the price.I'm sure you should have charged more.

[N.Burnsworth]

Very Nice block you had to work with, and very nice pipes!

[wdteipen]

Perfect example of how to orient a billiard on a plateaux block and two on the same block nonetheless. Really nice, Todd.

Actually, now that I look at it closer, the larger one could have been turned counterclockwise a bit or moved over to the left a touch for better grain orientation. Still super nice. I only point it out since grain orientation is being talked about lately and folks might benefit from looking at the photos with that in mind. Interestingly, you can tell that you started your sketch drawing the back of the bowl because that line matches the grain nicely but the grain falls away on the face of the bowl.

[Nate]

Sweet stuff Todd! Now you know, Grant could've gotten at least 6 pipes from that block.... just saying'....

[The Smoking Yeti]

Sweet stuff Todd! Now you know, Grant could've gotten at least 6 pipes from that block.... just saying'....

six magnums no less...

[pipedreamer]

That would be another 120$. You know if you keep this up, say in one year you could buy a Taig.

[Nate]

Sweet stuff Todd! Now you know, Grant could've gotten at least 6 pipes from that block.... just saying'....

six magnums no less...

You know it!!!

[Sasquatch]

I like Grant's pipes. Put a couple in on top of the tobacco to help it get going.

[andrew]

I like Grant's pipes. Put a couple in on top of the tobacco to help it get going.

andrew

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

I like Grant's pipes. Put a couple in on top of the tobacco to help it get going.

Ha!!! crumble them up and drop them on top. lol

[BrianMadsen]

Both pipes looks great! I really like when a single block is used for more than just one big pipe, and that block looks beautiful.
The big Oom Paul reminds me of some of Bjørn Thurmann's bigger pipes.

[JMG]

I'll take the smaller one. Thanks.