A good friend and collector, Chris Garlasco, has written an amazing article about Steve Liskey and me for the fantastic TobaccoDays.com. Steve is an awesome new pipe maker, and I’m excited to share an article with him!

A huge thanks to Chris, and Dave from Tobacco Days as well!

Lots of exciting news from the Turner Pipes workshop!  First, and maybe most importantly, I’m excited to announce that I finally have outfitted my shop with an awesome sandblasting rig.  This is going to open up a whole new stream of finish options for my pipes! here’s a shot of the rig:

Looks a bit like I should be handling nuclear material in there, huh?

In other news, i’ve been playing with some morta blocks that I picked up in Chicago last summer.

The straight billiard has a sterling silver ring, and the bent has a celluloid ivory stem.  Both of these pipes are already spoken for, but I do have some more morta to play with, so keep your eyes peeled for new morta pipes in the next couple of weeks!

I did make several Christmas pipes this year, my absolute favorite of which was this lovely paneled prince with Bethlehem Olivewood shank extension:

As of now, my travel plans for 2012 include the Chicago show in May, and the West Coast Show in Vegas in November.  I may add to that itinerary as the year progresses…

Looking forward to an amazing year ahead, and hopeful that it will be one filled with good news, good smoke, and good memories!  Thanks in advance for being a part of that journey!

I was honored to receive an award at the show’s banquet!  Steve and Marty saw fit to name me the year’s “Most Improved Pipe maker!  While I am sure there are other makers who deserve the award at least as much as I do, I am thrilled and honored by it!

Lots of commissions to get started on this week!  There are a handful of pipes available on the main Turner Pipes website right now, and surely there will be a few more before Christmas comes around!

It’s been a busy few months in the turner Pipes workshop, though my complete lack of regular blog posts may not exactly offer any proof of that fact.

In actuality, I have been hard at work prepping pipes for the upcoming West Coast Pipe Show in Las Vegas November 5th and 6th.  The show last year was an awesome experience, and I look forward to being a part of it again this year.  Steve O’Neill and Marty Pulvers do a great job coordinating the show, and last year’s attendance was great!  I am sure it will be even better this year!

I’ll have a dozen pipes for sale at the show, and I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones!  If you are anywhere near that part of the world next weekend, you should absolutely come by!

Jeff Gracik working at his shop in Southern California

I’ve been pretty busy, even though that busyness has not been in actual pipe production areas. Last month I had the opportunity to spend a few days with Jeff Gracik working in his shop in California. That was an eye opening experience, to say the least, and I’ve been digesting the things I learned there ever since.  Two pipes did come out of that visit, though I still have not taken legitimate pictures of them.  I was excited to have a chance to use Jeff’s sandblasting equipment, as it is something I do not yet have for my own shop.  For my first two sandblasted pipes, I feel really good about them! Here’s a couple of low-grade pictures, in case you missed them on Twitter:

Taking up even more of my time (stealing it from actual pipe making, I should say), is what I found when I arrived home from visiting Jeff’s workshop:

My new metal lathe

This is the new metal lathe I have had on order for months, and it finally arrived while I was gone.  At 5 feet long and nearly 800 lbs, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I was going to have to do a major workshop overhaul to accomodate the new machine.  My workshop has been located in the basement of our home for several years now, but the thought of hauling that beast down the stairs was frightening on many levels, so the past few weeks have been spent hauling everything else UP the stairs and into the garage.

Suffice to say, the shop overhaul has taken twice as long as I had hoped, and I still feel like a fish out of water because everything is located somewhere other than where I am used to it being.  I also had to get new tooling machined to accomodate the new lathe, as well as setting up a bunch of new equipment and systems that I stole learned from my time with Jeff.
Taking it all into account, it’s no wonder I have been a bit slow to keep things fresh lately.  I’ve been trying to incorporate new skills and techniques learned from Jeff, using new equipment and machinery, in a shop that is “new” to me for all intents and purposes.  All that to say, no more excuses, and I am eager to start cranking pipes out again!  Not only do I have lots of requests for commissioned work, but I also want to make some pipes available for the general public.  Oh, and the West Coast Pipe Show is only a few months away!

Pics of the new and improved shop will be forthcoming as soon as i finish clearing the clutter and have a space that’s presentable enough to share with the public.  Hopefully some sweet looking pipes will be right behind!

The 2011 Chicago Pipe Show was a wonderful time. As usual, it was great to reconnect with lots folks from the pipe community, and it was awesome to meet many new faces as well. Oh, and selling out of every pipe I had didn’t hurt, either!

I had a great opportunity to meet and connect with the staff from Iwain Ries, and am proud to announce that they will be a new retail distributor of my pipes. You will be able to purchase pipes from me directly, of course, and will also find some of my work on their site at Iwan Ries. I look forward to continuing that relationship in the months and tees ahead!

A hearty thanks to all of the show organizers, and another huge thank you to all of the members of the pipe smoking community who came out and showed support for all of the vendors, makers, and tobacco blenders who depend on your support!

I’m already excited for next year’s show! There are lots of exciting things planned in the months ahead, but some of that news will have to wait till later.

Now if only my flight would get moving…

I have been quite busy trying to make pipes for the show, and I am excited about what I will have for sale this weekend, but I have been remiss in tending to the blog these weeks. Hopefully I can make it up to you by offering some beautiful pipes!

If you are coming to Chicago, please take time to stop and say hello!

Here’s a little preview of a few of the pieces I’ll have this weekend…many more will be available as well.

Length: 115 mm
Width: 40 mm
Height: 45 mm
Chamber Diameter: 3/4″
Chamber Depth: 33 mm

This pipe sold to a gentleman from Maryland in 2011