Soon enough that the date feels real but plenty of time to make a pipe.
The Kansas City Pipe Club's signature event---the North American Pipe Carving Contest---will be closing out its ten year run by releasing the hounds... a CHOOSE YOUR OWN SHAPE competition.
It should result in a world-class winning set. Every carver is free to play to his strengths. There's no restriction on materials, either. In fact, except for an overall size limit (5" to 7") for display case pre-construction reasons, there are no requirements or limits of any kind.
NOTE: It is ESSENTIAL for both participants and spectators to understand that if this was simply an imaginative design contest, drawings would suffice. It is emphatically NOT that. Only ideas that are well EXECUTED will have any value. Fit, finish, line-holding, correct internal geometry, and so forth. (Another way to put it is a masterfully rendered billiard from a spectacular piece of briar could definitely be a winner.)
What's at stake? Besides instant immortality, planet-wide fame, and lifetime bragging rights, the seven winners will be awarded a cash prize: one seventh of the contest's raffle-style ticket sales. (A maximum of 400 tickets will be sold at $25 each, or five for $100. You do the math. Past contests have seen winning shares over $1000, and I think something would have to be profoundly wrong with the fabric of the Universe if this Grand Final isn't a sell-out.)
Here is a link to the KC club page where you can buy tickets to enter the raffle for the winning 7-day set and its display case, enter the carving contest as a participant, get tickets for the banquet dinner, and etc:
https://gkcpipeclub.com/shop?olsPage=products
Please share the above information on whatever social media accounts you have access to. A link back to this forum thread from enough of you would blow the lid off this thing.
Thanks to all. I really REALLY want this last contest to be the one that everyone, everywhere, will look back on and say, "Damn... I wish I'd bought tickets for that one! Did you see what (insert carvers names here) entered? That set was UNREAL!!!"
Finally, here are the carving contest's official rules plus contact info for its founder and director:
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