Sykes Wilford

Radice and Castello Photos

Radice and Castello Photos

June 27, 2011 by Sykes Wilford

We visited the Castello factory the day after we arrived and visited the Radice workshop the following day. It's been over three weeks since then, but I wanted to share some photos I took during the two visits. The Castello factory wasn't operating that day because it was an Italian national holiday, but we met with Franco and Marco and looked at pipes. ... Read More

Warehouse Move Redux

Warehouse Move Redux

May 28, 2011 by Sykes Wilford

As many of you know, last weekend we moved our entire shipping and receiving operation out of four rooms spread across two buildings into one 3,500 sq ft space a little down the hill from our other buildings. Our goal was to have absolutely zero service disruption. This required considerable planning. ... Read More

Two-ten-thousandths of an inch

Two-ten-thousandths of an inch

May 16, 2011 by Sykes Wilford

0.0002"x0.0000". Two-ten-thousandths of an inch. Those are the sort of tolerances that Alex Florov works with. While that is perhaps a large measurement in circuit board manufacturing, it is infinitesimally tiny by pipe standards. Alex is a model maker. ... Read More

Sebastian Beo Pipes

Sebastian Beo Pipes

April 25, 2011 by Sykes Wilford

Last year, on our trip to visit pipe makers in France, Italy and Germany, Alyson and I made an important stop in St. Claude to visit Sebastien Beau, owner of Genod pipes. This was a follow up visit from a discussion we'd had in Chicago. I was interested in introducing Danish style engineering to a line of classically French pipes. ... Read More

A Weekend in Maebashi with Tokutomi

A Weekend in Maebashi with Tokutomi

December 22, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

1 Comment

On a rather chilly, blustery Saturday morning, Hiroyuki Tokutomi pulled up at my hotel to pick me up for the three hour drive to Maebashi, a mid-sized city on at the northwestern fringe of the Kanto plain. ... Read More

Day One in Japan

Day One in Japan

December 17, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

These are all photos from my first day in Japan. Kei Gotoh and Takeo Arita picked me up at my hotel in the morning and we visited (I had no idea this was planned) a small museum of work by the celebrated painter Gyokudo Kawai, known for his naturalistic melding of traditional Japanese artistic themes with western modernist influences. ... Read More

A Pear in a Partridge Tree

A Pear in a Partridge Tree

November 15, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

3 Comments

Below are a smattering of photos from our visit to Jeff Gracik's workshop in San Diego, California last week. Brad Pohlmann was also in town, so they were working together, which was a particular treat to witness. ... Read More

West Coast Pipe Show 2010

West Coast Pipe Show 2010

November 12, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

Alyson and I arrived fairly late on Friday in Las Vegas, at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino, site of the 2010 West Coast Pipe Show. This was the second year of the show, and the first time I'd attended, since Tony and Bear went last year. ... Read More

A Conversation With Jeff Gracik

A Conversation With Jeff Gracik

October 29, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

American pipe maker Jeff Gracik, maker of J. Alan pipes, recently agreed to sit down with Bear Graves to talk about pipes and the life of a pipe maker:

... Read More

Video: Kristoff Cigars from IPCPR 2010

Video: Kristoff Cigars from IPCPR 2010

October 23, 2010 by Sykes Wilford

The other day, Brian asked me about this video interview. He remembered having done it, but we'd never put it up. It sort of got lost in the mass of footage we took at the show in New Orleans in early August. ... Read More

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