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My last order of briar was 50/50 ebauchons and decent grade plateaux. The pipes I have gotten out of said blocks are quite different in style, and I think in quality (price-able quality anyhow - they'll all smoke).

The kind of pipes I wind up with from the plateaux briar:





Not that these are such incredible wonderful pipes, but they are different, and unique, and I feel much more pride and attachment to them than this kind of thing:

The kind of pipes I end up with from ebauchon (Bing's OTHER favorite):





So is anybody likely to buy a handmade "Bing" when Savinelli does such a nice job of that kind of pipe for 70 bucks? Why would they?

I am starting to think that as a hobby level guy, who isn't making a living at this, what I should be doing is buying wood that inspires me, and makes me happy, and have fun making pipes, and if they sell, super. The practical side of me thinks I should master some basic classic shapes, and that DOES mean making 100 straight billiards, which I don't care for at all.

Nicely grained briar talks to me and tells me what to do. Maybe I'm Danish and don't know it???

Finally, a like minded fellow.

I AGREE!

Actually I would take the Bing over the other two although I am not overly fond of the length. I think for the most part I prefer the classic shapes. Give me a billiard, dog, pot, apple, prince or brandy any day of the week.

The top pipe; knock that plateau top off, straighten out the shank and stretch it a bit longer and put a straight stem on it. Just kidding, but I bet it would have made a decent billiard and the other point I would make is that I would also much rather have a decent hand-made than a cookie-cutter pipe. Not to be taken as a knock against Sav's but just that there is little to no variation within the shape and about 10,000 others will have one just like it.

There is a fairly diverse community of buyers out there.

The main problem I've found with factory pipes is that, almost to a one, they smoke like shit. A good handmade one will blow them clean out of the water in terms of smoking quality.

My factory pipes aren't bad, but they aren't quite as good as my high grades and handmades. I would guess that my lowest quality chunk of briar is a Savinelli Roma which even the rustication couldn't hide the defects and cracks on. Said pipe smokes beautiful though.

So my Bing is drilled really well, tapered in the mouthpiece, just like the big boys.... can I confidently say that thing will perform better than a Savinelli? I can certainly say other things.... Algerian briar, passes a pipe cleaner... one of a kind. But I'm not absolutely sure that it would surpass the Savinelli for out and out smoking.... I've heard nothing but good about the Bing pipes.

For what reason would my bing smoke better than Savs? A simple shape, easily machined.... they should nail it. Is my briar that much better? Maybe. Mine is a little longer, but they say it isn't the size of your bing, it's how you use it.

CKR, you made me laugh.... that freehand turned out exactly how I wanted it.... I love it. And someone else will too. But some dudes will see it and just shake their heads and head for the bulldogs. And that's fine too.

Thank you all for commenting, playing along with my late night self-indulgent post.

Sasquatch wrote:.... can I confidently say that thing will perform better than a Savinelli? I can certainly say other things.... Algerian briar, passes a pipe cleaner... one of a kind. But I'm not absolutely sure that it would surpass the Savinelli for out and out smoking....

I don't know that you should proclaim any comparisons between a Sasquatch pipe and any other brand. If you do, there will always be a few guys who'll contest your statement. Simply describe your pipe: materials, dimensions, engineering details, finish, etc and leave it at that.

I agree with Fred. I never make direct comparisons with other brands, since any claims of superiority will be immediately and violently disputed in the nearest and most convenient Internet forum.

Folks looking for handmade pipes know what they're after, so selling one over a mass produced factory pipe is pretty easy once you've got your audience established (the hard part).

I will direct any questions or comments on my pipes to Kurt.

I haven't had to do any "selling" at all. I have put a few pipes in front of people at what I thought were very fair prices, and they've been scooped up. I am dealing also with a local B+M, and they've been really nice in helping me aim at certain parts of the market, and in sort of aiming some of my pipes at certain of their customers. The guys in the shop had a good look at my pipes, and we talked about pipe making and selling, and the whole thing has been really positive for me. It offers me a place to display and sell, and it offers the store a way to offer custom stuff. Hopefully it will work out good for both.

Kurt is the man!!!

LexKY_Pipe wrote:Kurt is the man!!!

(looking around) Who, me? I'm nobody - but I do like to help.

But you're always are available and in this time of people being too busy, we sure appreciate that Kurt.

Thank you, Craig - that means a lot to me.

This forum is huge, and all the help from the "regular crowd" is appreciated. I don't know where I would be at as a pipe maker without the advice and opinions found here.... I suspect that my progress was sped up by 100%.

Sasquatch wrote:.... I suspect that my progress was sped up by 100%.

Speaking for myself, I'd say 1000%, seriously.

Sasquatch wrote:This forum is huge, and all the help from the "regular crowd" is appreciated. I don't know where I would be at as a pipe maker without the advice and opinions found here.... I suspect that my progress was sped up by 100%.

Agreed. If you want honest critique and truly helpful info, this is the place to be.

I posted some pictures of my work on another forum and everyone there lavished me with praise. Made me feel great. . . until someone else got basically the same type of response a few days later when he posted a POS pipe he had hacked out.

Pipes I show to pipe smokers get drooled on, and I think I'm the next Bo Nordh. Same pipe shown here gets a really thorough and accurate critique, and the next pipe is better.