tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post115003748583934642..comments2024-03-09T04:53:54.412-05:00Comments on The Talbert Pipe Blog: Become a Better Pipemaker in One StepTreverThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02652943318376670283noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150242341984631862006-06-13T19:45:00.000-04:002006-06-13T19:45:00.000-04:00Hi Trever,I actually think you are missing one big...Hi Trever,<BR/><BR/>I actually think you are missing one big point and that is the customer. <BR/><BR/>I mean, honestly, I'm European, German to be exact, and what you are writing about is probably an American phenmomenon anyways... in Germany there are not lots but some new pipemakers, most of them doing this part-time. Those guys mostly do a good job and are selling their pipes for quite reasonable prices, say 100 to 300 EUR. That's different in the States where you find lots of newcomers selling (or trying to sell) pipes for prices you can get a Barbi (to stay in Germany) for. I don't think Barbi would care too much if this would happen in Germany since those pipes don't match the quality, the attention to detail and the eye for design of the pipes he makes. Not to mention the experience he puts in every pipe. Customers know this. So I actually wonder why someone who made the Mountains Of Madness or the very pretty bulldog in this example or in general, pipes which have a very unique selling point, concerns about hobbyists. No one who has 500 EUR left would buy a pipe of a new pipemaker because Barbi doesn't polish the tenon, and if someone indeed bought one of those newcomer pipes he would return to Barbi/Talbert/however afterwards since customers are not that stupid after all...<BR/><BR/>Just my two Cents<BR/><BR/>Best regards,<BR/><BR/>WolfgangAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150204779372010762006-06-13T09:19:00.000-04:002006-06-13T09:19:00.000-04:00Karol Tarka wrote:> - do you actually feel the pre...Karol Tarka wrote:<BR/><BR/>> - do you actually feel the pressure of hobbyists on<BR/>> the market?<BR/><BR/>Me, personally? No. But I do know that there has been growing pressure across the board for all professional one-man shops to stay competitive during the past five years or so. This comes not from the genuine hobbyists who just make a few pipes for fun, but instead from what could be called "dedicated part-timers" - Guys who have a full-time job but basically follow the checklist (German ebonite rod stock for my handcut stems? Check. Briar from Mimmo? Check. Danish-ey shapes? Check. $400 price? Check!) and set up their own websites and such. As recently as 2001-2002, nearly all the pipemakers online were full-time professionals. In the intervening years, we've seen an absolute explosion of new sites going up and new names that are all this type of part-timer. Where once the money was flowing to full-time artisans who needed it for food, a lot is now diverted to part-timers who just want pizza money, and will probably leave the market after a few years.<BR/><BR/>> - do you think that critique on pipe making forum<BR/>> might steer a potential<BR/>> buyer from a particular pipemaker?<BR/>><BR/>Yes, I've see it happen over and over again. Someone will more mouth than sense will make a big deal out of some little detail and claim it means pipemaker X's work is badly done. Collectors, interested in what they think are the techniques of pipemaking, hear this without understanding the full picture and parrot the same info elsewhere repeatedly.<BR/><BR/>> My experience with pipe making made me realise how<BR/>> easy it is to make a<BR/>> smokeable pipe, for godssake one can smoke from a raw<BR/>> hobby block... It also<BR/>> made me realise how incredibly hard it is to make a<BR/>> nice pipe, shape that<BR/>> flows and all that.<BR/>><BR/>This is the good thing about hobbyist pipemaking - people learn that it's difficult :)<BR/><BR/>> Personally I don't believe that you should feel<BR/>> threatened by hobbyists. By<BR/>> retreating from such forums you are just supporting<BR/>> those who are polishing<BR/>> the air holes to 1800 grit and then making big deal<BR/>> out of it. By being<BR/>> involved you might actually put these guys on the<BR/>> right track and make them<BR/>> appreciate things that are more worthy. Now I<BR/>> understand that you don't have<BR/>> time to participate on forums and that the last thing<BR/>> you want to talk about<BR/>> at the "fin du jour" is pipes but I think blaming<BR/>> hobbyists for shrinking<BR/>> your slice of pie is just ridiculous :)<BR/>I wouldn't say "threatened by", but rather "annoyed by". After you've heard for the thousandth time some completely untrue bit of info (for example, "polish to 12000 grit, then buff"....when buffing compound is actually a lower grit than you've just sanded to...), it often requires so much tongue-biting to keep from snapping at people that it is better to just avoid the forums. Same thing that happens with ASP, really.<BR/><BR/><BR/>> Pipe smoking is dying (!!!), at least here in New<BR/>> Zealand less and less<BR/>> people smoke, not to mention pipes. Everyone who is<BR/>> out there interested in<BR/>> pipes should be very valuable to you. You should be<BR/>> educating these people<BR/>> as they are your best walking talking advertisement. I<BR/>> might be wrong, there<BR/>> might be very fragile economics behind these opinions<BR/>> but hey, it's just an<BR/>> opinion.<BR/><BR/>It may be that this is our future - Dave Fields and I were talking about this. The pie is getting smaller and smaller, and now we suddenly have this vast horde of new people all wanting their piece of that pie... So perhaps the future will eventually see the "names" (both full-time professionals and factories) dropping out of the scene completely and surrendering the field entirely to boutique part-time makers. Could well happen.TreverThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02652943318376670283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150155971080554262006-06-12T19:46:00.000-04:002006-06-12T19:46:00.000-04:00I've noticed that a lot of professional pipe maker...I've noticed that a lot of professional pipe makers have not been frequenting the forum as of late. I always attributed that to the fact that a web forum is a very cumbersome interface for discussion - unlike email which is a nice lightweight method of discussion that most folk use regularly anyway. I'm on several listservs that, if they moved to a web forum, I would leave in a heartbeat due to the added time needed just to have a simple conversation.<BR/><BR/>Great post, Trever. Hopefully it will help out some folks in figuring out priorities. Some similar advice really struck home for me a couple years ago during one of my brief stints as a full-timer while between one dot-bomb and another.Kurthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14871045883385817953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150133192701000032006-06-12T13:26:00.000-04:002006-06-12T13:26:00.000-04:00Trever, I think that it could be a good idea. But ...Trever, I think that it could be a good idea. But first, I should make an english style bulldog and, actually, I'm trying to carve some english style shape. This week I'm working on a Cutty, a Zulu and a Poker. If I success with those ones, I'll start with english bulldog and then, maybe, one like you made. Proportions are very hard to keep... and carving the lines in the junction between the shank and head.<BR/><BR/>Sure, dialog is much more different in the forum you mentioned and it's very interesting to have this vision :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150115742546427042006-06-12T08:35:00.000-04:002006-06-12T08:35:00.000-04:00Thanks! You should try one, they're good exercise...Thanks! You should try one, they're good exercise. Actually, if you or any other visiting guys want to try your hand at making similar pipes, send me photos of the results and I will post the good ones here. Could be some handy advertising for your work! <BR/><BR/>It occurs to me that, since you are on the Folloder forum, you actually see a more realistic discussion of pipemaking there than you could at most other places. It must make for an interesting contrast to read :OTreverThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02652943318376670283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17653383.post-1150060905230789532006-06-11T17:21:00.000-04:002006-06-11T17:21:00.000-04:00Excellent article, Trever.The Bulldog is fantastic...Excellent article, Trever.<BR/>The Bulldog is fantastic. You did an amazing job with it. I love it :-)<BR/>As for your reflexion between professional pipemakers and amateur, it is interesting. I had a thought about this few time ago.<BR/>Congratulations for the bulldog. For the moment, I keep carving much easier shapes :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com