On the Workbench

Voila les pipes! Since there was such an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to my inquiry about the level of interest in unfinished pipes, I am putting this into immediate action, yes, and going one step further by offering customers the ultimate in the unfinished, unstained, virgin natural pipe - Here they are!

:D

Goofiness aside, these are destined to be the four Talbert Briar versions of the FdP 2006 pipe set. Or not. Really, it will depend on interest and budget - My intention is to simply finish these four pipes, post photos to the FdP members, and let them buy if they want, first-come, first-served. Those that sell will be stamped with the FdP logo, any that do not will go to P&P marked simply as Talberts. I realize they look pretty crude now, but I have hopes that these four are going to be some very nice briars indeed.

Et oui, il ya a un(e?) écume de mer aussi! This will be the first meerschaum pipe that I have ever made for someone else to smoke, IF I can finish the thing without any disasters occuring. I doubt that I will sell it - I have it in the back of my mind to make a Christmas gift of, or something similar. I don't actually think I could afford to sell my own meers - My supply is a very good quality African meer, but this isn't accepted by most as "high end" meer so I seriously doubt anyone would be willing to pay my labor costs of making a Talbert Meerschaum to buy an African meer pipe. It's excellent smoking stuff, though, and much more durable and tough than Turkish meer (My first pipe from this material remains one of my personal favorite smokes), but it would likely be a difficult sale even as a Ligne Bretagne. What I like about the material is that it can be sandblasted. It is strong enough not to dissolve under blasting, but rather weathers away like my example, and becomes a surface a bit like coral. For once, a pipe I can drop in a jacket pocket with keys without fear of it being scratched!