The Steward
I think of myself as a steward.
I am a son of this place and its beauty, and the materials it produces.
I am the holder of hard-won, pipe-making lore, known to few.
I grew up in a small California farming town, surrounded by Orange, Oak, and Walnut groves, and overshadowed on the east by the towering Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was a camping family, and summers always included forests and mountains, including backpacking through the alpine zones. I crossed the Sierra and summited Mount Whitney at 13.
After my grandfather, a pipe smoker, passed away in 2006, I took up pipe smoking in his honor.
In 2009, while at University of California at Irvine, I began to explore the art of pipe-making.
On December 31st, 2009, I crafted my first pipe at a cabin in Yosemite with my friend John Klose. John and I would later go on to form a pipe-making partnership, J&J Pipes, which produced excellent pipes from 2011-2015.
In 2016, we dissolved the operation, and I struck out on my own, using the skills acquired during that time, to take the artistry to new heights.
I live in Visalia with my wife and five children, still surrounded by those same Oranges and Oaks here in the Valley, watched over by the Giant Sequoia and pine groves on the peaks above.
The Craft
The wheel is the center of the shop, powerful and aggressive, it carves the block into the shape of a pipe.
Holes are drilled freehand, using an Atlas lathe circa 1939. Drills are handmade to purpose.
Mouthpieces are drilled from whole rod stock, and custom designed for each individual pipe.
Once the wood and mouthpiece are fitted together, they are filed and sanded, taken through progressively finer grits, and polished.
Materials
Briar is a small tree lining the hills surrounding the Mediterranean sea. Harvested on the steep slopes by hand, brought down by donkey and truck, cut, boiled, processed, and sent to me. It is a truly spectacular material: uniquely dense and fire retardant, with fiery grain patterns.
Mouthpieces are made from ebonite or epoxy based materials.
The truly unique materials that I use are Orange (Citrus Sinesis) and Manzanita (g. Arctostaphylus). Neither of these are commercially harvested, and I depend on having “a guy" for that. Some of the Orangewood I've used was cut from the grove surrounding my childhood home. Some of the Manzanita I've used was harvested from around the Yosemite cabin my family has owned for 80 years.
The Lineage
During World War II, English brands started running out of briar. A young Danish chap began making pipes out of Birchwood to bridge the gap. Once the war was over, he started using briar. His name was Sixten Ivarsson.
He is the true original shape-first, drill-second pioneer, and basically invented the handmade pipe as an art.
In 2001, Todd Johnson made the trip to visit Sixten’s son, Lars Ivarsson. I spent a week with Todd in 2015, learning his method.
Jeff Gracik of J. Alan pipes also made many treks to Denmark to see the Ivarsson family. I had the pleasure of spending a week with Jeff at the beginning of my career in 2011, and have visited quite a few times since. I teach at the pipe making seminar that Jeff heads up every year at the Chicago pipe show.
To see the resultant expressions, come to my workshop.
