Meet the Gnomes!

Back when we were readying to leave Brittany to return to the US, we had to choose what we brought and what we left behind.  We brought all of our morta stock, all of our briar stock, and roughly 20,000 rough-turned Ligne Bretagne stummels in medium and larger sizes.  What we left behind, however, were entire crates of tiny stummels... Group 1-sized billiards and others.

I opted to leave most of the smallest bowls behind because they cost shipping money and were commercially unmarketable.  Despite the fact that tiny pipes take as much labor as larger ones, buyers tend to equate size with value and when they see a very small pipe, they expect an equally small price.  That puts the maker in the difficult position of either slapping together a cheap pipe at very high speed, one whose craftsmanship would reflect badly on the rest of his offerings ("I bought one of X's $45 pipes and it was really poorly done, why would I ever spend three times the price for one of the others?") or of taking a big financial risk by producing a lot of very well-done tiny pipes that would be costly for their size, and might very possibly sit unsold for weeks, months, or years.

Recently, however, two events came together perfectly here.  First, we created the Ligne Bretagne Classic - A line of standardized designs that could be made to order here in our shop, thus negating the financial risk of carrying a lot of inventory that might or might not sell.  Secondly, my wife came in the other day from the garage holding a bag of small turned bowls.  She'd been digging in some long-unopened boxes of briar for something else, and found a bag of small bowls that we'd decided to bring along with us just for fun.

At that point we both realized... We don't have to gamble on making a bunch of tiny pipes that might not sell.  We can make them to order, just like the LB Classics.  That way, fans who want a tiny pipe can get one, and I don't have to risk sitting on hundreds of dollars of stock if they're not popular.

Then, of course, the idea of GNOMES hit me, and that was that, a whole new pipe series for Ligne Bretagne!  The bag of bowls that Emily found contained roughed shapes that could be turned into 24 sandblasts and a couple of smooths - The usual ratio for any pipes not being spackled with putty.  But... We've got plenty of other smaller bowls that don't get used a lot, just because they're smaller than normal and people already complain that Ligne Bretagnes tend towards the smaller size range.  Grouping them all into the new "Gnomes" category seemed like a grand idea - Fun for me to do, fun for the specific buyers who wanted small pipes, and no risk for production time or sales.

Et voila, a new stamp marking was born: 

We've already got a great big florid "G" for Goblins, so the new mark is suitably small and focused, instead.

Pricing was the next big decision.  "Slap 'em together" and sell them for $40-50, scratches and stem gaps and all, or "Do them right" for twice the price because of the labor time?

It took about two microseconds to realize this was no choice at all, because I'm incapable of just leaving flaws that bug me - I'd end up sitting and tweaking and detailing regardless.

So, with that in mind, I'm pricing and crafting them for what they are - High-quality, high-detailed little jewels.  Airways are tapered and coned, bits are filed thin and comfortable, buttons are reshaped and thinned, bit slots are internally fanned for smooth airflow, bowls are magnifier-inspected to be scratch-free, and there's enough labor time built into the pricing to allow for some fun.  In these first ones, that fun equals two-toned finishes, with natural rims that fade down into rich brown bowl stains. 

So how small ARE the Gnomes?  Small enough to easily fit into a shirt pocket, to easily fall into the 10-20 gram weight range, and to be so light as to be effortless clenchers.  But, they're still big enough for a decent smoke - I'm not into making Kiseru, here.  To wit:

So that's the Gnomes!  The guiding principles:

Keep them small.
Make them quality.
Make them sprightly.
Make them fun.
Make them creative.
Keep them featherweight.

Ligne Bretagne - Classics and Uniques

Big news!

We're doing something new with Ligne Bretagne.  For the 14 years they've been in production, we've been plagued with one consistent issue - Lack of stock.  We post them, they sell out, and casual website visitors then write me to complain that all the pipes are always sold.  I don't blame them, I would not want to have to watch a site like a madperson 24/7 to insta-grab anything that got posted, myself.  The flip side is that we could not afford to do them as commissions, either.  The price levels they sell for simply don't accommodate the sort of back-and-forth consulting and talking that happen with every commission, and the limitations of working with machine-fraized shapes prevented a lot of the sort of size and shape requests customers might want anyway.

What to do?

Our solution is this - We're dividing Ligne Bretagne into two kinds of pipes, Ligne Bretagne Uniques (each one individual, the same as we've been doing), and Ligne Bretagne Classics.  Ligne Bretagne Classics will be pipe designs that we work out carefully for repetition - Cuts of bowl, shank, stem length, band, and any other decor that we'll set up our workshop to reproduce accurately as many times as needed.  We'll select each bowl to be of consistent and matching grade to insure there will be no "losers" in our output.

And the best part is - You'll be able to order them.  

If you see a shape & design in the Ligne Bretagne Classics list that you like, you can purchase it right then!  Your order will go into our production queue and you'll receive an email with an estimated shipping date.  When your pipe is ready and finished, you'll receive specific photos of your personal pipe.  If you're happy with the results, your pipe will ship out as soon as we get your OK!

While the Ligne Bretagne Classics design list is small today (consisting of just two bulldogs for starters), we intend to add more shapes to it as time goes by.  We're starting with bulldogs because they've always been among our most popular sellers.

This makes things better for everyone - If someone wants to buy a design, they can, and they can be guaranteed of getting their pipe.  There's no racing to the page to try to grab something before the new stuff sells out.  Producing ongoing series of standardized pipe designs lets us save on production cost and time, savings that we can pass on to the buyers in the form of lower prices - Where our typical Ligne Bretagne Uniques tend to run around $175, Ligne Bretagne Classics can be ordered for $140 plus shipping.


I'll answer the two most likely questions here, and add more info as new questions arise.

Can I customize my order?  (Ex: I love the bulldog shape but I want one in red instead of black) - Not at the present time.  Maybe eventually... I'd like to be able to offer some checklist options in a drop-down menu style for finishes, especially, but for now I want to keep things simple to get these pipes off the ground as smoothly and successfully as possible.

Are these pipes any different from the other Ligne Bretagnes? - No.  They're made from the same aged stummels with the same stem materials, band materials, production techniques, and finishing processes as all our other pipes.  A Ligne Bretagne Classic is not a "cheaper" pipe... It just costs less!

The Ligne Bretagne Morta Collector

Two blog posts in two weeks!  Will wonders never cease...  But I had two things worth saying, a rare event in itself.  I'm back this time to introduce (or re-introduce) the Ligne Bretagne Morta Collector:

I had a great time working on all those Ligne Bretagne Dukes and Dons recently.  It's a fun shape, very elegant and stylish, and offering a lot of creative freedom in the final renditions, and I got to thinking...  We don't have a lot of morta left from Brittany, and I recalled that we had a bag of small blocks that was actually labeled "Probably too small for pipes".  I went digging through our stock for this and voila, it was just as I remembered:

Too small for pipes with traditional shanks, yes, but...  a lot of these are perfect for Dukes, Dons, and other "no shank" variations.  Turning these last smaller blocks into pipes would be a productive way to finish them out, and preferable to the previous option of just cutting them up as decorative rings, tamper parts, etc.  And when I say "these last", I mean it - In the photo above, you're looking at the last of my smaller blocks of Breton morta stock.  I've got some bigger ones set aside for higher-end pipes, but what you see above is it for the small ones.  When it's gone, it's gone, and with no other pipemakers likely to ever set up shop in the Briére, this is almost certainly the last Breton morta in the world.

What's different about it?  I've worked with morta from a few other suppliers.  Thus far in my experience, the Breton morta is denser, harder, and heavier.  It's very rough on workshop equipment, and just sanding it is prone to wear out sanding discs and drums almost immediately.  It also possesses, in my opinion, a richer, darker, earthier flavor than other mortas that I've worked with.  It's positively made for latakia, and excels with any really strong and dark tobacco, offering a flavor that is quite literally like nothing else.

So, this will be the next site update!  We're working on the first several of these now.  I plan to work our way through that box you see above until they're all turned into pipes, or at least all the blocks that are usable as pipes.  This is pretty much the definition of "Limited Edition"!

Making the New Ligne Bretagnes

It's possible this may be too technical (AKA "boring") to write on, but what the hell... I thought I would make a quick post on the process behind the creation of the new Ligne Bretagne Duke & Don shapes.  I've been wanting to do something like this for some time now, as a wholly alternate shape style for the Ligne Bretagnes.  When you're working with partially pre-fraized stummels, your final design options are perforce limited, but I find it an entertaining challenge to see just how much variety and individual personality I can inject into the line, considering that they are in essence machine-made pipes.

If I were making this as a Talbert Briar, it would in many ways be simpler.  I'd cut a length of stem rod, hand-turn the tenon to the desired size, file the stem to shape, drill and hand-turn a custom band to the desired style, and drill and turn/shape the bowl to what I wanted.  All of this would add up to $400+ of shop labor hours.

Ligne Bretagnes, of course, sell for $140-$190 on average, so none of the above is possible.  I need methods to do everything above for roughly 1/4 the amount of shop labor time, given that Ligne Bretagnes also need to be priced where they can be sold direct OR wholesaled to retailers.

The first order of business are the bands.  To get high quality AND time efficiency, these are factory-machined parts that come exactly sized and pre-polished - Each one is identical so my shank size turning can be pre-set. (In reality, I use three different sizes of bands, and three different styles, to accommodate the different shank sizes of various bowl shapes, but this is the thing about individual small-shop craftsmanship - Nothing is ever *quite* identical).

Below you can see some of the ingredients of the Ligne Bretagne Duke/Don stew:

A few bands always come scratched or otherwise imperfect, so I set these aside and use them for "masking" - Pop them onto the turned shanks to protect them during sandblasting and overall bowl shaping, then swap them later with the final, finished bands.  The turning of the shank should be tight enough to hold the bands on by pressure alone, but I always add some commercial-grade epoxy just for extra insurance over time, since the wood swells and shrinks with temperature and humidity.

Another key part of the process is to greatly speed up the tenon sizing and fitting.  On most Ligne Bretagnes, I use Delrin tenons - I prefer them for their strength and smooth fit.  Here, however, this isn't possible.  The thin stems simply don't have enough body to insert a Delrin tenon into, even if it were easily possible to drill them out without splitting them.  Instead, they'll need to be turned.  This simply can't be done by hand for a $147 pipe, so instead I set aside the time to assemble and customize a commercial tenon turner.  Here's what one looks like:

The turner is mounted on the headstock of one of my metal lathes.  The various slots allow cutting blades to be ground and inserted for a variety of fraizing purposes, but here we're just focusing on making a reliably-sized tenon.  I mounted the cutting assembly onto the head, then cut a piece of guide pin that matched the airhole sizes of our stems.  I also drilled and cut a thicker bracing tube to mount it into the center of the cutting head, and both keep the guide pin from flexing for better turning accuracy, as well as providing a handy stop point for each tenon so they would be a consistent length.

Once this was assembled, a lot of "test and size" experimenting took place - The adjustment knob above is slowly dialed to slide the cutting blade in and out towards the guide pin, until it's at the exact point where it will cut a tenon that matches the size of your drilled mortises.  The sliding tool mount is then locked in place.  The small carbide cutting blade at the tip will automatically shave down a stem tenon as the stem is pressed onto it, while leaving a slight bevel at the base of the tenon to add rigidity and help protect a bit against snapping.  Here it is in use:

The cutting head is spun on the lathe and the stem is pushed onto the guide pin.  The blade cuts a perfectly-sized tenon every time.  It takes a lot of time in the set-up process to customize it to provide accurate results each usage, but once that work is done, turning a tenon is as simple as pushing the stem onto the guide pin.  In this way, I can reliably make dozens of pipes efficiently and with reliably quality fit and finish from pipe to pipe, and make them all on a budget that a lot more people can afford!  Et voila, the new Ligne Bretagne Dukes and Dons, a whole new look for the brand to help kick off 2015:

(Note - This does NOT mean that all Ligne Bretagnes will look like this from now on - I'll continue to make the classic standard shapes as well.  But it is something new and different and fun to add to the brand, and that's always a good thing)

Repairing a Delrin Tenon

I recently did a repair job on one of our Ligne Bretagne tenons, replacing one that the owner had melted with a new one, and I thought it might be worth photographing to show the process involved in even such a simple repair as a tenon replacement.  This is an excellent explanation for why $50 factory pipes aren't worth the labor costs to repair, not compared to the replacement cost, unless there is some strong sentimental attachment involved.  Click each page pic below for the full-sized version!

New pipes at Pipe & Pint!

Here's a bit of news - Our local pipes & tobaccos & beer & cigars & wine shop now has their website open and stocked with available pipes.  They even have one of mine, a Talbert ring grain sandblasted freehand from 2007, probably our best year in France (It was a bit odd to see our old "Faite en Bretagne" stamp on one again).  Sharp-eyed folks may notice I've included their logo and a link to their site on our website's home page now, too.

At the moment they are in the process of posting their stock of estate and artisan pipes to the site, so check back with it often as there is new stuff going up.  Also, they're about to have the first new infusion of pipes from our workshop in a long time... Probably since around 2008!  We've finished up ten special Ligne Bretagnes as our re-introduction to their retail shop.  Emily spent considerable time digging through our stock of LBs to find ten stummels, each one a different shape, that were all flawless enough to finish as naturals.  Each one is also fitted with a stem ring handcut from teak decking off of the USS Battleship North Carolina.  I've used this material before (For up-close pics of an example, see here).  Larry, P&P's owner, picked up the material while vacationing at the NC coast and mailed it to me in France some years back, but I haven't had the chance to work with it until now.  It's beautiful material, and between the stem decor and the unstained bowls, these are going to make a special and affordable set of pipes to restart our P&P relations again.  Check out the pics here for samples of a few of them!

The pipes are finished now and I'll be dropping them off at P&P sometime this week, probably Wednesday.  I've talked with Larry about having an afternoon "Meet and Greet" where I would be there to talk to interested folks, and could show off the pipes directly, but we haven't set a date yet.  If you're interested, contact the P&P guys at their website by phone or email!

Finishing up

What a long, strange.... and often horrifying... trip it has been.  I write this today having just completed the setup of the last workshop lathe that we need for pipemaking, making this our semi-official "Workshop Finished" day.  There are still things lacking (workstation lighting being the main one, as I can't see what I'm doing on several machines and have to carry a flashlight with me!), and I am certain that we will rearrange and modify the setup once we have used it for a while, but for now, we have access to a fully functioning workshop again.  I'd like to take the opportunity to once again thank all the great people who have helped us out with this project - We arrived here with nothing, thanks to our final screw-over by the Herbignac mairie, and our ability to start working again is entirely down to a lot of help, donations, and generosity on the part of pipe friends all across the USA and Canada.  To mark the occasion, here is a new "Workshop assembly" comic strip showing the last steps of getting the metal lathe working, and then a two page tour of the new workshop.  Hope you enjoy! 

(Oh, and for the curious - Don't look for new pipes on the site tomorrow.  With this done, I have five days of email to catch up, a lot of business archiving to do, a starting inventory to finish, a pair of special pipes to make, a house to decorate for the holidays, and a NC driver's license to obtain before I start making pipes for the site.... and THEN that will take a while in itself, since I want to have something nice in stock in every category before we put the new site online with all new stuff.  I don't know how long all this will take, but rest assured we'll be working as hard as we can right through December to get things going again.)

 

 

 

A Nice Deal

Here's a nice deal for someone - an unsmoked Ligne Bretagne bulldog sandblast on ebay. I always wonder about pipes like this... Why was it unsmoked? What is the story behind it? Did the original buyer suddenly go off bulldogs after purchase? I've never bought a pipe unless I intended to smoke it, usually within minutes of purchase, so the "aftermarket" in unsmoked pipes will probably always puzzle me. In any event, I remember this particular pipe and it is a very nice blast, and should certainly be a good deal for whoever picks it up!

Fans of deep sandblasts with deeper pockets, however, should check out this monster - a Talbert Briar poker from 2000. I remember that one very well indeed - In fact, it's one of those pipes I've made that I would have loved to keep for myself. In the late 90's, I got hold of a stock of some extremely old Algerian briar in long-shanked block sizes, perfect for pipes like this, and the material not only smoked well but produced excellent sandblasts. It required hardly any effort to get a good blast, and extra attention paid dividends in a radically craggy surface. Like most of the Algerian briar I've seen, the grain was hardly ever in what's considered "proper" orientations (stacked rings, for instance), but it had a randomness and sheer craziness that I enjoyed very much.

And FWIW, I have no affiliation with either auction nor the sellers, I just thought they were both good bargains worth mentioning here since orders have kept me so busy that I've hardly had any time to make pipes for the website, lately.