The Wandering Mortas

We continue to be extremely busy with group pipes and orders, but in and around the fringes of the main work, I managed to do a couple new Morta Classics. I haven't decided what to do with them yet - One may already be sold (the prince), but I'm not certain, and I also don't know if I have the time to do full photo & catalog entries for them, so they may just ship direct to a dealer. But, I thought I'd post a couple of quick pics here first just to see if anyone wanted to snap one up direct. They're each 209 €, or 250 € with VAT for EU buyers, and thankfully, the euro has started dropping finally and US buyers can now purchase a good bit more easily than a mere six months ago! Today's rate is $1.47/euro, down from a miserable $1.58/euro only a month ago. Note - Both pipes are now SOLD

Like all the Morta Classics, these are both smaller bowls, best suited for flakes, plugs, etc. They're also of note because they are officially "the first of the last" - We are officially going to be ceasing production of the Briere-harvested morta pipes. If I can find a reliable commercial source (hopefully one of the new wave of morta pipemakers can help me here), I will continue to make morta pipes, but the cost of finding, harvesting, and site-drying is simply more than I can bear in time and money. Our existing stock has dwindled to the point that we now have a limited number of small-bowl Morta Classic-size blocks remaining, and a select stash of larger blocks for Signature pieces, and when the Briere morta is gone, that's that.

And that's the news of the moment! Anyone interesting in snagging one of these two should just email me.

Special Offer from the Workbench

I haven't had any new pipes or news for the site in a while, but here are a few pics from the workshop of what is taking up our time - the 2008 Pipe of the Year for the Israeli Pipe Club. These are pics from the first batch of pipes that are on the way to them now. They're all sandblasts, and each one is unique according to its grain. Obviously every block is going to blast differently, but I'm trying to make them a nice mix of traditional grain layouts and some more dramatic stuff, according to the personality of the individual block.




Talbert Briars are normally so individual and one-at-a-time that it's strange to see such a matched set of TBs in one spot! I don't think I've done a set of limited run Talbert Briars like this since the 2000 Yule pipes, if I remember correctly.
While we are currently set up with templates and optimized tools and workshop streamlining for these shapes, I can offer a special discount for anyone else who wishes to order a pipe in this shape - 15% off the normal prices, according to grain. What this means is:

* A grade 2 (meaning pretty average grain), normally priced at 305 € (around $478 in today's USD) will be 259 € (around $406)

* A grade 3 (meaning nice, interesting grain and more dramatic sandblasting), normally priced at 390 € (around $612 USD), will be 331 € (around $520). The pipes in the above group set are all nice examples of grade 3's

* A grade 4 (meaning absolutely stunning, knock-out grain - spectacular rings, etc), normally priced at 515 € (around $808), will be 438 € (around $687 USD)

Requested pipes can be stained differently but that's as far as they can vary from this shape before they start losing the time savings and the discount. This offer is good until I finish this group pipe set and all orders received - meaning probably for the rest of August, at best. Once the set is finished and we start up other shapes again, the discount will be no more, so if you want one, let me know soon!