Chorusline!

I don't really have the spare time to write anything today, but I wanted to share this silly photo that I made last night while doing more shots of the newest FdP pipes. The pipes look as if they're doing stage dancing - kick those stems up!

Edit: I just thought of two extra items to mention. One is that the P&P site should be going online in the nearer-near future, as opposed to the vaguely-near future. I'll report here ASAP when it does.

Also, in non-pipe news, Emily and I are going to be attending this year's Utopiales science-fiction convention in Nantes at the start of November. If anyone else in our area is going, drop me an email and maybe we can meet up for a lunch or something.

The World Weekly Pipester

Since I have several unrelated items to mention in this post, I'll adopt the handy format of some of our handy supermarket tabloid papers....

Flash!! Bizarre Briar Block found in Mysterious Hoard!
Searchers in the Talbert Pipes briar mountain today found this bizarre ebauchon in a bag of other, more conventional blocks. Interviewed on how it came to be and it's bizarre size and shape, pipemaker Talbert had this to say: "Hell if I know! It's weird. The shank is longer than any plateau block I have, but the thing is so thin you'd never get a bowl out of it unless the chamber was narrow as a pencil. This is what happens you start modifying crop genetics, I say!"

Last Angry Holdout finally caves, Gets MySpace Account
In other news, Pipemaker Trever Talbert appears again - Coincidence? We don't think so...
Officially identified as one of the last remaining curmudgeons who did not have MySpace accounts, Talbert has finally caved. "It was for family and friends", he claims, citing the fact that half the people he knows all have MySpace pages and he'd been repeatedly asked about his own. Regarding his entry into the twentieth century, Talbert comments, "Now, if anyone wants to know about my stupid hobbies or see what some passing fourteen year old has spammed my page with, they can just go here."

More Fumeurs de Pipe 2006 Pipes Sighted!
Seen recently in increasing numbers, this paper believes that these pipes may even now be filtering out into the wild, possibly spreading to your very own streets and villes. Eyewitness accounts report that they're all looking pretty neat, though they do vary a bit from one to the next - expert commentators attribute this to their handmade quality, though other sources cite the legendary eccentricities of their creator for the variations. We can't confirm until someone actually has one in hand, but this reporter believes at least a few of them are already in the mail.

France to go Smoke-Free in 2007?
In a blow to the French spirit of individuality, France expects next year to fall in line behind England, Ireland, and other EU nations in adopting sweeping laws outlawing smoking in public spaces such as restaurants and bars. Fortunately, angry French tobacconists are already planning ongoing protests, and claim they will blockade the Champs d'Elysée with seventy-thousand packages of soggy Gaulloises if the ban goes through. Cowardly as always, the current administration is already backpedaling, and offering concessions in the form of private clubs, separate air-cleaned rooms, and other special dispensations. But will this hold if tough-talking potential president Sarko takes office next year? Stay tuned!

Crazed Herbignac resident responds to Smoking Ban
In our letters to the editor, we find this excited missive from a resident of Herbignac, in the 44. "Smoking bans? In France? By golly, if they're going to make restaurants smoke-free, when are they gonna make them child-free too? I'm sick of hearing those brats cry and squeal, and it's disgusting watching them smear food all over themselves! I paid for a fine dining experience. If other people can get smoking banned just because they don't like it, why can't I ban children in public?? GAAAHHH!!"

Stubbies

Stubbies! If my pipes have a common theme, it is usually "long and curvy" - Even my straight pipes tend to be long in the shank and stem. However, I know there are fans out there of short and squat pipes, so I did these two, both of which are shorter-stemmed than my usual, while still having nice group 5-sized bowls. They're both earmarked for Pipe & Pint, but they will be here for at least a week since Larry has to be away from the shop, and I've set them aside to wait until he's back. If anyone on this side of the ocean wants one of them in the meantime, just drop me an email. The short-stemmed cumberland pipe is 299 €, and the natural is 383 €.

In other news, the first FdP pipe will be shipping out tomorrow to its new owner! I have started finishing and photographing the pipes, and am emailing the various people who requested one with pics of what is available, in order of the list that I have. I'll just go from person to person, one at a time, until everyone has a pipe they like. This will probaby take at least a month or more, to get everyone. Here is a photo of one of the earliest pipes finished, a higher grade than average due to an extremely dramatic sandblast (Most of the blasts will probably be 187 € TTC):