American Exposition 2016: The Art of Ring Grain in American Pipemaking

April 13, 2016 by Eric Squires in Makers and Artists

In the beginning there was the Dunhill Shell. At least, that's how histories of the sandblasted briar usually go; whether or not Dunhill was in fact the first to come up with a sandblast-finished pipe, I leave to better historians and whatever original source materials they may find. Certainly, though, it was that English factory that made the sandblast big.

As big as the Shell and the sandblasted pipe in general became, and despite special grades (like the Shilling) coming about, briar given a not-so-gentle caress from a high-pressure mix of air and media still lived for decades under a certain shadow, a family secret of sorts. It was this: if a pipe couldn't become the smooth-finished beauty you'd planned, you would sandblast it. Factories and workshops might do this if unsightly flaws appeared; independent artisans might do this if certain desirable grain features suddenly disappeared. The sandblast, as lovely in rings or loaded with craggy character as it could be, was as a rule treated as second-rate.

About a decade and change ago this perception began to shift, and it was a handful of American artisans who led the way. They put as much effort into developing their sandblasts, in detail, and texture, and yes, even selection of briar and shape itself, as pipe makers before them put into developing bold and clear contrast stains to bring out birdseye and flame grain (and you bet artisans sink a lot into developing their own formulas for those). They mixed their own custom blasting media, they experimented with compressor volume, pressure, and air-flow rate, and they looked at an individual piece of work not as whether it could be a smooth pipe or would have to settle for a sandblast, but whether it would make a better smooth pipe, or a better sandblast. They removed the sandblast from its shadow; to remove the shadow from the sandblast might have been done only with slick marketing, but what they did instead was make their sandblasts something special in their own right, from start to, yes, finish.

And at this point in pipe history, everyone knows it: if you want a sandblasted finish of the finest sort, the first place you'll be pointed towards will likely be one artisan in America or another, and if you're a pipemaker anywhere looking to make the finest sandblasts you can, it is your peers in America you'll likely look to as a standard (or even for direct instruction). The latter is just as important as the former, as while it's well and good for sandblasted pipes made in America to have set new standards, it is even better if the art and craft everywhere gains.

With all that background laid out, let's move on to the pipes — because, yes, all that background is there mainly as a preamble to the pipes we have today. This special update is our sequel of sorts to last year's "American artisan pipes featuring bamboo" extravaganza.

I don't think I need to tell you what the theme is this time around. What I do need to tell you is that the roster for this special selection is even more impressive, with no less than nineteen American pipemakers taking part, which is to say, sending us pipes.

From "A" to "Y" (Abe to Yeti — we didn't have anyone beginning with a "Z"), well, if I list them all we'll be here too long, and we've already been here long enough.

So, without further ado:

On With The Pipes