Bit of a Breather

I spent all of last week working on pipes for the Artwalk show that I mentioned before. Several nights I went without sleep. Not exactly my ideal working situation but between working two jobs and trying to get more experience working with Briar I have to do what needs to get done.

My real goal with this show was to get my pipes in front of more people here in my home town. The tobacco pipe 'scene' here isn't very big but it is growing, thankfully. I not only want to nurture my pipe making but also the pipe smoking community here. This being a college town I am frequently asked "do you blow glass!?" when I tell people that I make pipes, I am getting rather sick of it but there isn't much to be done about that.

Anyway, I digress. I managed to produce seven pipes in the eight days leading up to the show. A time frame I hope to never re produce. I do not like the idea of sacrificing quality for quantity, and ever the perfectionist; I think I could have done better on several of the pipes.

These are the more traditional three that I finished, I am still having trouble getting the Vulcanite to get the high gloss shine but I think the slight matte finish is also a good look.

In total I made a Dublin, a Billiard, a bent Billiard nosewarmer, a giant bent Tomato sitter, two Blowfish, and one freehand sitter that is hard for me to describe. Unfortunately I don't have photos of on of the Blowfish, or the undescribed pipe yet. I will post a follow-up with those.

The opening for the show was on Friday the 1st, we had a small turnout however the show will remain up until the end of the month and so far I have had some encouraging feedback and interest in several of the pipes. 

 One of the favorites so far is this giant bent Tomato. It also happens to be one of my favorites as well, it has a nice weight and still fits nicely in the hand or alone on the table. It was also the first one I finished for the show.

I really had a lot of fun with this piece. Consequently it was also the first pipe that I drilled 'Freehand', I am now hooked and will use this technique from now on. It enables one to very accurately drill the Tobacco chamber and air holes. It also lessened my dependance on the drill press.

 My second favorite pipe is this Blowfish. It was my first attempt at one and I am rather pleased with it. I also added a Pearlite band on the bit. If this pipe doesn't get much attention I will simply keep this one for myself.

I am thrilled to be in this show and am thankful that I had this opportunity to get my pieces out where more people can see them. I am looking forward to the comments and critiques I receive on these pipes.


For now, I must go. My legs are starting to fall asleep as my lapdog 'Dozer' has been quietly keeping to his namesake as I sit here and write. Thank you for stopping by, I will post more pictures of the pipes I have accomplished and post updates about how the pipes are being received.


-Fumo Somnium

Back in the Habit again.

Finally back to doing what I truly enjoy: crafting a pipe. After a six month hiatus I have once again picked up hammer and chisel, so to speak. More like file and briar, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it.


I received a shot in the arm recently. As it happens a local gentleman -who recently took up the art of pipe crafting- walked into the showroom where I work and asked the owner if he could show his pipes at the next 'artwalk' ( a first Friday tradition downtown ). Something I myself had approached the boss with a few months ago. His response was that he could, but only if I went in on the show as well. The other gentleman had no idea I also made pipes and the look on his face was entertaining. I agreed and we decided on the April artwalk, just so happens that the first Friday in April is also the 1st.

As it was the week of my 30th birthday at the time, I decided to splurge on something that I had wanted for almost a year. I purchased a small bench top wood lathe. Then I ordered some briar, and got to work. I need to have a steep learning curve with the lathe as I don't want to waste the Briar. I'm a little nervous putting any of my pipes on display, especially being on such a time crunch. I hope to gain some valuable experience from this little experiment. With any luck I won't "loose" any briar in the process and will have at least six new pipes to show.

I'll be sure to make updates with my progress.

Pics of the Spalted Pipe

I love the way this pipe looks with the rough finish. Sadly it will never get smoked. Although for the sake of practice, I may finish it out. If I do, more pictures will come...

Spalted Curly Disapointment.

I promised I'd upload some photos of the pipe that I had been working on over the weekend, and I shall. But first I have something else that I would like to address. I only discovered this today, and while it wasn't hard to come by via the internet, it is worth sharing for other novice woodworkers.

I had wanted to pick up some different types of wood to practice making pipes with. There are multiple varieties of wood that can be used safely to make a tobacco pipe. The most common are Briar, of course. As well as Cherry, Maple, Oak and Walnut. For use in a tobacco pipe a tight grain hardwood is recommended. However, beware, as there are many different types of woods. Many of which can cause sever health problems with different people, depending on the type of wood and an individuals allergies.

So when I purchased some beautiful Curly Maple, from an online resource,

I was confident that it could be used as a tobacco pipe. Curly Maple has a beautiful quality to it. As pictured: a perfectly flat, smooth sanded piece appears to have waves or stripes that run through it.
I felt it would make a beautiful pipe, and if my digital weren't giving me hell right now you would see that I was correct.

Unfortunately when the wood arrived, I discovered that it was Spalted Curly Maple. Which can be fairly sought after wood. I didn't think much of it while I was rough shaping and finishing up the pipe. Then out of curiosity, and on a hunch, I decided to research exactly what Spalt was. As I discovered I was correct, spalt is caused by fungus attacking the tree.


As I researched, I discovered that even if the wood is cured, the fungal spores can still be viable. Glad I was wearing my dust mask. The only accepted way to use Spalted wood in food related products, such as bowls or plates, is if it has been dried and sealed. Personally, I don't use anything in the making of my pipes that I can't use for food related items. I figure if it is food safe, it's pipe safe. The real catch is that you really shouldn't be using wood sealer on pipes. The pipe reaches such high temperatures that it can bubble the sealant off of the wood, as well as draw the chemicals through the wood into the bowl and then you are smoking the sealant. Same reason not to use normal wood stains, but I'll get into that in a different post.

The end result is that I turned out a really neat pipe, but will not sell it due to the spalting of the wood. I will try and get some pictures up soon.

I believe that this information could be valuable to other pipe carvers, should they happen to stumble upon my site.

Thanks for stopping by, may your bowl be full and your pipe warm.

New Pipe on Etsy!

Posted one of two new pipes on etsy today

A Charming little Nose-Warmer, this was also my first attempt at "staining" the wood.
in reality it is a cordovan shoe leather dye, as it can handle the heat better.
I'm really happy with the result, and can't wait to get the other pipe up as it turned out AMAZING!
But that will have to wait till later today, work work work.

Well... Here I am.

My name is Jeremiah, but I will go by Sullivan.

This will be the first of hopefully many posts.

This one will be short, but I just wanted to share. I recently entered a Novice Pipe Making competition over at Pipe Makers Emporium, and managed to pull off a tie for 3rd place! In reality this deserves a much better write up, and I did one, over at Pipesmagazine.com. I will post again soon with more pictures.

This blog will be everything related to my crafting of briar tobacco pipes and other similar thoughts that I may deem related to such.

Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned, this will get more interesting.