Jody Davis Pipes

Family man, touring musician with the Newsboys (holding claim to several gold records, Grammy nominations, and a platinum single, at last counting), pipe maker, and luthier — Jody Davis balances a lot. As a result of this, his hand-made briars have long had a reputation for, among other things, being hard to come by.

Jody's journey into pipe making grew out of an already well-established passion for briars and their enjoyment. During his tours in the 1990s, he amassed a vast collection of old English pipes found in antique shops (online shops and auction sites having yet to make their mark at that time), and eventually he just had to try his hand at making his own. These early efforts were encouraged by his friend Keith Moore, who further put him in contact with Jess Chonowitsch, Jess in turn providing Jody with early advice on acquiring better materials. Later Jody would meet J.T. Cooke, which led to spending over a week at Cooke's shop in Vermont absorbing (and recording) everything he could regarding tooling and technique. Todd Johnson served as an important influence as well, introducing Jody to freehand skills learned from Tom Eltang.

Though Jody Davis's personal preference still remains in the realm of classic shapes, as a craftsman he has a built a reputation for fine pipes of more modern and creative design as well. Whether it's a classical English Billiard or a complex, evocative Elephant's Foot, you can expect a simply beautiful piece, crafted from only the highest quality materials and engineered to provide the best smoke possible.

His grading system is as follows:

• Friar: sandblasts, "D" through "A"
• Abbot: smooth or sandblasted, "D" through "A"
• Bishop: smooth finishes only, "B" or "A"
• Cardinal: smooth finishes only, "B" or "A"
• Saint: exceptional pipes, "B", "A", or Jody's ultimate grade, the "Halo"