Box of Pipes!

Here's a group photo of what's about to ship out to Pipe & Pint, either tomorrow or Thursday, most likely. It should be a nice varied box, with pipes from the conventional to the very wild. The bamboo shank bulldog in the foreground and the blasted bent raindrop on the left are the most recent additions - I'll bet that big raindrop will get snagged particularly quick. So, it's "last call" for direct sales of any of these - If anyone over here wants one, please email me pretty quick!

That bamboo shank pipe may look familiar from a previous article. It's a 3 piece pipe - Since the airhole in the briar shank had to be drilled at an angle that would not permit future reaming with the bamboo epoxied in place, I've instead simply finished two mortises and the stem can be removed from the bamboo as well as the bamboo being removable from the briar bowl, all for easier cleaning.

What's happening at Talbert Pipes now? It's pretty much Battle Stations all round here - We entered January severely suffering from the holiday expenses, and are now scrambling like mad to do the bills thing. Such is the life of the self-employed artisan... I think some would call it "adventurous", but they probably have salaried jobs. ;) But, I'll probably be absent from most pipe forums and such for a while, as I'll be working heavy shifts through the rest of the month and beyond.

Oh, and as a parting note, I'm not sure that the "American Pipemaker in Brittany" blog will continue. I've run out of things to say that aren't the same thing over and over again, and there doesn't seem much point in writing that I've had to totally drop my French studies again due to more pressing problems, for the hundredth time. I realized I hadn't updated it since November and there just isn't much to say there - It's just been work work work, and I've barely left the house for two months. We'll see...