Micah Cryder started making pipes even before he had an interest in smoking them.

In late 2011, when he was 17, Micah's brother decided to make a Christmas pipe for their father, and Micah volunteered to help. They used the equipment in their high school shop class. Their teacher had no objections as long as they worked on the project outside of school hours, so they stayed after every day until they had a pipe.

They had little idea of what they were doing and figured it out as they went. It was a relatively smokable pipe for a while, but it didn't last, and their father no longer has it. "It died a tragic and inevitable death," says Micah. "It was a terrible pipe."

Micah, a fourth-generation pipe smoker, made up for it, though. His brother moved on to other interests, but Micah stuck with pipe making. In the years since that first project, he's made his father 14 pipes — and they've all lasted. His skills have obviously matured.

The second pipe he made was for himself. He doesn't purchase pipes, always making his own. "I've never bought a pipe in my life," he says. Except for a Douglas MacArthur corn cob that someone gave him and a couple of pipes he's traded with pipe makers like Jared Coles and Nate King, he's smoked mainly his own pipes, though his first smoking experience was with a Savinelli borrowed from his father's collection.

While Micah made his first pipe without any pipe-making education, he quickly found Pipe Makers Forum and enthusiastically investigated, studied, practiced, and improved his craftsmanship. He posted his early pipes on the site and appreciated the constructive criticism and critiques he received.

Early Training

"I eventually got some training from Premal Chheda, mostly over the phone, just troubleshooting stuff, and then I visited him before my first Chicago show. A few years later, I worked with Todd Johnson for an extended time. I think it was 24 days. That's the most time I've ever slept in somebody else's shop."

Where Micah especially benefitted from his time in Todd's workshop was in learning and becoming comfortable with freehand drilling, which affords more creativity with overall shaping. It's a process whereby a pipe maker holds the stummel in hand to drill the tobacco chamber rather than drilling it by machine. It allows the shaping to be performed first to maximize grain and design instead of drilling first and shaping the bowl around the chamber.

"The way Todd shapes is extremely cool to watch," says Micah. "It's inspiring, and I can say for sure that some of what I learned has been crucial to my advancement as a pipe maker. I don't shape exactly the way he does, but I definitely learned a lot from his techniques."

"I worked with Todd Johnson for an extended time"

While Micah attended college, it was only a short time before he dropped out. "I was studying mostly general requirements, and I was kind of curious about doing photojournalism, but that was only because I liked photography, not because I liked journalism. I was never that committed to it. It was just sort of the next thing to do after high school. But I didn't like school; it wasn't interesting. I was way more interested in pipes; I had a passion for pipe making that I never found in school subjects." He decided to leave school and concentrate on his pipes, which he decided to call Yeti. "I was 18. It seemed like a cool name."

By 2013, he was selling some pipes through Smoker's Haven, Premel's tobacco shop in Ohio, and in 2014 he started providing pipes for Smokingpipes. "Before that, I'd just been selling on a commission basis. So I'd been selling a little bit to some retailers and doing a lot of business with word-of-mouth commissions."

Quality of Work

What especially helped Micah was his early reputation for the sheer quality of construction in Yeti pipes. "It helps if they're drilled straight, line up properly, and reflect good slot work. Fundamentals, really — just a dedication to the basics. But, on top of that, over the years, I've put a lot of effort into my finishing and staining techniques, as well as in sourcing really good materials. I love antique Bakelite, mammoth ivory, masseur birch, cocobolo, and other materials for accents. And I take too long to finish my pipes. The time I put into finishing doesn't even make good business sense; it's ridiculous."

"I didn't like school; it wasn't interesting"

Where Yeti pipes most differ from other brands is in their use of antique Bakelite, in relatively exotic materials, and in that obsession with an incredibly high level of finishing.

Because Bakelite is often moderately translucent, it's important for Micah to polish his airways; otherwise, they just don't look good. Polished airways also theoretically contribute to better smoking characteristics because they reduce turbulence — and, therefore, reduce moisture — in the smoke stream. "I've developed a process for getting a gun-barrel polish in my airways."

It isn't only the Bakelite stems that receive that treatment; he polishes all his airways, including stems made of Ebonite. "It's easier and more consistent to do all the stems the same way, not just the translucent Bakelite. I think it makes the pipes smoke better, though I've seen some pretty rough airways that smoke great, so I don't really know. Yeah, I've seen some pretty awful pipes that smoked really well. Try to figure that out."

Raw Materials

Micah's favorite briar comes from Mimmo, and he ages it as much as he can before carving it. That's especially important for sandblasts, he says. "I've found that briar, at least for me, blasts better, more consistently, and craggier if it's well-aged. I try to let my briar age at least a year. I have some that's 40 years old, which is blast crazy; it's really nice, but I try to keep a backstock of briar, so I'm always aging it. And part of that's also just for my own consistency of production. Back when I was starting out, I'd buy just enough briar to make pipes for a couple of months and was always running out and stressed about it. So, I now keep at least two or three years' worth of briar on hand."

"I've seen some pretty rough airways that smoke great"

Briar isn't the only raw material he has to worry about. Antique Bakelite is not easy to find, and it's expensive. "Don't get me wrong; I love Ebonite and make a fair number of stems with it. But for me, it's either German Ebonite or Antique Bakelite." He doesn't use acrylic. "I hate acrylic. When it heats up while working it, it gums up the tools. I don't understand why anybody uses acrylic. It's a pain to work with, and I don't like how hard it is, either, with that glass-like mouthfeel. It's nice, I guess, that it's so low-maintenance for the smoker with no worries about oxidation and the unpleasant taste that comes with that.

"But one of the great things about Bakelite is it's pretty easy to work. It kind of dulls your files quickly, but besides that, it works well, and it doesn't get a nasty taste like Ebonite does with oxidation. You don't have to constantly maintain it the way you do Ebonite, and it's very durable."

Yeti pipes are known for their creative use of Bakelite, but also for their high level of finishing. "I've spent the last four years working on my contrast staining and smooth-finishing processes to really take them up to the next level. And it's been a battle. A smooth finish can take three weeks to go through my process, just because there's so much wait time. I'm really trying to get a bit more disciplined with executing it and keeping a steady stream of pipes entering the process workflow so that there are always some being finished. That's been my main focus."

It's hard to convey the effort that goes into the Yeti smooth and ultra-contrast finishes."Both of those finishes are actually very poor business choices in the immediate term because they take so much more time than a normal contrast and smooth finishing process — exponentially more time. It's always a challenge to communicate what goes into them without revealing exactly how I accomplish it. So, I guess it's between that and the actual sourcing of materials that is so time-consuming and costly."

"A smooth finish can take three weeks to go through my process"

Style

Yeti pipes reflect a number of styles. They are often low-slung, like his Eskimos and Horns.

Even his Acorns often reflect a low-slung form.

Yet Micah is no stranger to more vertical shapes, like this Scarab and Dublin:

"I feel like, in many ways, my style is a kind of modern American shaping, with Danish influence, of course. But I also feel like I have a couple of different styles. When I'm making a smooth pipe, partly because my smooth process is so much more time-consuming, I tend to make more sculptural, more elegant, more unusual shapes. Not always, but more often. Whereas my sandblasts tend toward more utilitarian shapes — kind of classical, either Danish or even English-inspired classics. So I don't know that I would say I have only one style. I think I might have a couple, just depending on the kind of pipe. But I guess, broadly speaking, that just makes me American."

Signature Shapes

Micah considers the Eskimo one of his signature shapes. "Most people don't make it, but I've made a lot of them. And I think they're different than other people's Eskimos. I also make a shape called the Gronkle 55 that has been pretty popular." The Gronkle is defined by a Bulldog-like bowl, a plateau-crowned rim, and a pointed heel. They're muscular shapes with distinctive silhouettes.

Influences

Micah's interest in Bakelite was influenced by Todd Johnson, Micah Redmond, and Sam Adebayo, who all use Bakelite and are all impressive. His styles, though, may best be described as J.R.R. Tolkien-influenced. There's a fantasy aspect to many of his compositions, with a sculptural approach that would be at home in Middle Earth. His Gronkle 55 shape, it may be noted, is named for a dragon type found in the film How to Train Your Dragon (2010).

"... my sandblasts tend toward more utilitarian shapes"

His affection for the fantastical elements of Tolkien, though, goes beyond his pipe making. All three of his children were named after Tolkien characters: Peregrin, Beren, and Elanor. He also found inspiration for his meticulous, mirror-like finishes and precision engineering in some of the Danish pipe makers, though he has surpassed all but the best of them with his own techniques and compulsive dedication to excellence.

Yeti pipes emphasize contrast, sculptural shaping, dramatic color palettes, and premium materials. Few pipe makers are willing or able to invest the time and skill necessary to achieve what Micah Cryder does. In terms of quality and aesthetics, Yeti pipes occupy a remarkably elevated station in the world of pipe making.