I

am here for the first of a series where we talk with pipe smokers and pipe collectors about their pipe collections. I'm here with John McElheny, Pipe Specialist here at Smokingpipes. He started out as a Copywriter describing the pipes that you see on the website, and now he evaluates a lot of the estate pipes that people send in to get them up on the site so that they can sell.

John's Early Pipe-Smoking Days

[Steve Mawby]: Tell me a little bit about what got you collecting pipes in the first place? What got you into smoking a pipe? How did that all start?

[John McElheny]: I started primarily as a cigar smoker. Big into cigars, and I worked at a cigar shop for a number of years. I even tried to smoke a pipe when I was working there. It didn't work out too well. But when I started working here, Shane Ireland gave me an old Ropp, and I just started smoking that off and on. It picked up from there, and I just never put it down.

As the years have gone by, I've gradually accumulated more and more pipes, and I can't seem to stop myself.

[SM]: It's interesting, Shane actually gave me my first pipe, too, which was also a Ropp. What was the shape that he gave you?

[JM]: Straight Billiard horn stem.

[SM]: The first time Shane was smoking a pipe and walked into a shop, the shopkeep basically used the old sales tactic that we look at your face and determine what shape of pipe would fit. When he gave me my first pipe, he gave me a Bulldog, so that tells you what he thought about my face compared to what he thought about yours.

Based on the collection that we're looking at here, there's some evolution from Ropp straight Billiards.

Stanwell Canadian

[JM]: This is a cute little Canadian from Stanwell. This was actually one of their world championship pipe-smoking contest pipes, made in 2000. This is a special pipe because it was given to me by Chuck Stanion, who some of you may be familiar with as our former Senior Writer, Editor, who retired, and someone who I look up to very much. I was smoking at his house and didn't have a pipe, and he said, "You can have this." It's like it was nothing. He's an incredible man.

[SM]: Chuck is an absolutely great human being, an excellent pipe collector, and very knowledgeable. That's a very special piece there. Is that something that you smoke regularly?

[JM]: This is actually the newest member of my collection. I got this not too long ago, so it's still being broken in. He gave it to me unsmoked.

[SM]: It's been breaking in pretty well? You've been smoking it a bit?

[JM]: Oh, absolutely. I can't really find any problems with it. It has excellent grain, too, just all the way around. Even rings.

[SM]: That's beautiful. Yeah, those old Stanwells and the Danish-made stuff are just excellent. Then we've got some other stuff here where it looks like you have kind of evolved from the Billiard archetype a little bit.

Ashton Old Church Straight Bulldog

[JM]: This is an Ashton Old Church straight Bulldog. I have always been interested in the Bulldog shape, but I never really owned one. The first pipe I ever bought was some basket pipe, but it was Rhodesian, and it wasn't very good at all. This, however, is great. It smokes great, it is stout, it is sturdy. It has really nice and firm lines, but it is not so large that it weighs on you. It's not so large that you can't hold it comfortably in a clench. It is a solid, everyday smoker.

[SM]: That is very well-balanced. That's lighter than I expected it to be when I picked it up.

[JM]: While not the first, and as you can see next to the other two pipes, it kind of speaks toward my predilection for Cumberland-style finishes.

[SM]: Yeah, there's a theme there, for sure. What was it about that one, specifically, that made you pick up a Bulldog?

[JM]: Well, I wanted something English. I didn't have any English pipes in my collection at all, up until that point. I wanted something that was approachable, something with a crisp finish and nicely defined grain. It has some pretty nice birdseye on it.

There was something about it in the moment, with that almost Tanshell-style finish, I looked at this and I thought, "That seems like it fits."

[SM]: It fits well into the collection.

[JM]: Exactly. Slotted right in.

[SM]: Have you picked up more English pipes since then?

[JM]: Nope.

[SM]: So that's still the one and only English.

[SM]: Let's move on from the English a little bit. I see we've got some Italian stuff here.

L'Anatra P&T 2005 Paneled Lovat

[JM]: This is a L'Anatra paneled Lovat that was made for P&t in 2005. I think it's one of the coolest things that L'Anatra ever did. This bowl is just really impressively symmetrical.

[SM]: Yeah, very tight.

[JM]: The panels are straight and very sharp. The stem is straight. There's the tiniest little bit of a flare in one direction. The finish is excellent and the grain is nice. I used to have a lot more Italian pipes. I used to own several, and I would smoke them fairly often, but at a certain point something switched and they all just became a little bit too large for my tastes.

Then, we got these on-site, and I looked at it, and I saw the visible ring grain and the straight grain just flowing across the entire stummel, and I had to buy it. It was and still remains to this day an incredible smoker, and it's one of my favorites. It's kind of an odd duck, for me, I think, because at this point it might actually be my only Italian pipe.

[SM]: Oh, wow. So you've pretty much winnowed down your collection pretty significantly from having a lot of Italian stuff. I mean, I'm a sucker for a Lovat. That's one of my other favorite shapes, along with the Bulldog, and that is just an excellent example of it.

[JM]: Yeah, and the panels just elevate it for me. I didn't know how much I liked paneled pipes until I had this one.

[SM]: Is it your only paneled pipe?

[JM]: Yes.

[SM]: We gotta fill out some English and paneled to get that collection up a little bit.

Abe Herbaugh Cutty

Is that an Abe Herbaugh pipe there?

[JM]: Yes.

[SM]: I'm a huge fan of Abe. I actually just bought an Apple as an estate from the site, so I'm a big fan of Abe Herbaugh as well. Tell me about that one.

[JM]: This is a Cutty he made, I forget exactly when. I also didn't own a Cutty. I didn't own a Herbaugh, and I've always loved his work. From the second I started working here, he and Yeti, specifically, as American carvers really just leaped out at me as being different in certain ways.

I think that Herbaugh's control over the classic shapes, the ones that people have been making for centuries, is really on a higher level in the American pipe-making sphere. This one has a Cumberland-style finish, a Cumberland stem, a silver band, and just the tiniest little spur. It's cute, it's made well, and there's just a really fine edge, too, on the front. There's a ridge that just separates the bowl.

[SM]: Yeah, very subtle.

[JM]: It kind of makes a Teardrop shape out of this spur. There's a lot of shaping detail going on, even though it's something you can look at and grasp from the outset. It's something that changes as you look at it, and it's been aging really nicely, too. The finish has been getting a little bit of patina, and it looks really nice.

[SM]: The way the shape follows that grain pattern on there is just so very well done. I love the stem work here. Like you said, he is such an excellent craftsman. Everybody does classics, but there are some people who do them just so perfectly, but in their own style and voice where you instantly recognize it, like, that's an Abe Herbaugh pipe.

Yeti is another good example of that, that you mentioned. Of course, Yeti also has that really glossy finish that is just instantly distinctive. Abe gets that same level of distinction with more traditional finishing, which is just very cool. Very impressive. But then he can also do more experimental things very well, too. It's kind of hard for a pipe maker to be really good at both of those things.

[JM]: He toes that line incredibly. And we see it in almost everything he does, and I'm very happy to have started my pipe-smoking career at a time when so many fantastic artisans are hitting their full stride. It's really thrilling to think of the future and what they may be able to show us and break forth from their mind.

[SM]: And what they might be able to do to our checking accounts.

[JM]: Yeah, that, too.

Yang Kun Two-Pipe Sets

[SM]: We've got two on here that I think I saw you pull out of one box. It is a two-pipe set.

[JM]: I didn't actually mean to get the two pipes that came in a singular set. I was going to get one from each box, but I really wanted to show this one off. It is the smallest pipe that I own, and it is precious. It's super light and easy to clench. The grain is phenomenal. It has a dual finish, so there is smooth birdseye all over the rim and ring grain just flowing down the lower side of the stummel.

It smokes well, and it has a boxwood accent, and I don't have any of those in my collection. There are so many things about this pipe that are incredible, and the way that Kun is able to pack that much shaping substance into a pipe that is that tiny is incredible.

[SM]: Very impressive.

[JM]: And then there's this Tomato.

[SM]: That is a killer pipe.

[JM]: I am such a sucker for these squat, rounded shapes, these super curvaceous, almost flat kind of extensions potentially of the Apple shape. But this Tomato, for me, is a particularly nice example. You've got this really densely compacted length of bamboo with four knuckles.

[SM]: That accent is amazing. It just immediately pops when you see that pipe.

[JM]: He has inlaid it as well. I'm not quite sure with what — they could be ivorite — but these little tiny white inserts here, two on each side. He also extended the little indents of the knuckles. There's so much about this pipe that I love to see. A lot of detail. And it has the slightest bit of a dip in the outline that gives the shape of the bowl that extra oomph. Of course, the grain is fantastic.

[SM]: Absolutely amazing grain.

[JM]: I'm a big fan of birdseye, and the underside of that pipe is just outstanding.

[SM]: Yeah. That's absolutely beautiful. You mentioned that this is the smallest pipe that you own, probably. This one is not exactly hefty. What was it that made you want to jump at something that's maybe a little outside your wheelhouse?

[JM]: That is a good question. I think I started to consider the larger pipes that I had owned, those larger Italians, to some extent, and I thought, "How many of these have passed through my collection? How many of these have I smoked? Have I ever really smoked something smaller?" And smaller in the way that we think of smaller, as intentionally made to be portable like this. I realized that I never had. So when that set became available, I couldn't miss the opportunity, and it didn't hurt that it was just adorable.

[SM]: Yeah, these are great pipes to take that risk on. Kun is an excellent pipe maker. You know you're going to get something good. Both of these are just beautiful.

Ryan Alden Prince

[SM]: We have one pipe left here that we haven't talked about yet. I think this is the one that I heard you say is your personal favorite. Maybe not necessarily the most expensive pipe on here, but just the one that you enjoy the most. Tell us about this one.

[JM]: This is, to me, the platonic ideal of perfection in the Prince shape. Technically, it's also a Tomato, but this right here is representative of the moment I realized I really like Cumberland-style finishes, and I love the Tomato. It was a combination of different realizations for me. It was like an inflection point almost in my pipe-collecting career.

There's nothing I would change about this pipe. This is by Ryan Alden, by the way, who has just done such a fantastic job with this piece. Of all the other pipes on this rack that aren't Latakia smokers, this is the one I smoke the most. It is comfortable. The grain is excellent. The finish and the colors are nice. The combination through here with that very slightly tarnished silver, which is my bad, and this stem and the ruddy tones of the stummel, it's just beautiful to look at, at least for me, and I just love this piece so much.

[SM]: If that was your first Cumberland, you have definitely picked up on that a little bit and got some more Cumberlands in your collection.

[JM]: Yes. That is a consistent trend.

[SM]: In the pipe community, Ryan is also one of my favorite people. I haven't seen him at a pipe show in a few years because he has been doing other things, but he's just a great time to hang out with, and that's one of the things for me that I always love. When I'm smoking a pipe from somebody, if I have a backstory with that person, I just know they're a good guy, it just adds an extra layer to the enjoyment of the pipe.

I have my little Pete Prevost here, the Blowcano. If you look at it from one angle, it's a Blowfish, but if you look at it from another angle, it's a Volcano. I've been friends with Pete for years. He was one of the first people in the pipe community that I really got to know and hung out with.

This was actually the first pipe that I bought from him, just in Vegas last year, and I have been smoking this pipe religiously since then. Every time I smoke it, I'm taken back to all the shows that I've been to and all the times that I've hung out with Pete and the BriarWorks guys. It just adds something to the enjoyment of the pipe.

It's awesome that you have that. I don't think you've ever met Ryan, right?

[JM]: I have not.

[SM]: It's awesome that you have that connection, even without knowing him personally. You can just feel his personality in it a little bit and enjoy the pipe.

[JM]: Absolutely.

John's Pipe-Collecting Evolution

[SM]: That is a very impressive collection that you brought here. I'm definitely jealous of a few of these, and I'm gonna say there's a couple here that if you ever decide to let them go that you should definitely let me know. I might have to pad out my own collection a little bit.

We've talked a little bit about how your tastes and your collection have evolved a little bit. You started off with larger Italian stuff more than just about anything, and gravitated a little bit towards smaller things. You really like the paneled and the English, but you've gravitated toward the Cumberland. We also talked about what's developing in the American market.

How do you see your tastes evolving? Have you seen any trends in your collection? And do you have any predictions for where those trends might take you over the next five years or so?

[JM]: I actually do, yeah. I have a pretty good idea about that. These two Yang Kuns are just one set of his that I bought. I actually bought another one of his sets from the site — a gorgeous natural smooth Rhodesian and a really nice, ruddy sandblasted Pot with bamboo. It is a lovely set, just like this set is lovely. I am finding myself gravitating toward Asian artisans more and more. They do very interesting work, their finishes are always intriguing, and their accent work is fantastic. Kun, in particular, does fantastic work. I don't know if I have seen a pipe from him that I've really intensely disliked, which is hard.

[SM]: Yeah, that's rare.

[JM]: I'm very particular, yeah.

[SM]: Any other Asian artisans that you have your eye on?

[JM]: Wandi Riyadi.

[SM]: Oh, yeah.

[JM]: I have been a fan of his since before he came onto the site. We had a couple of estates from him, and I looked at them really intensely because I had never seen anything like it, and I realized, "Oh, he's from Indonesia." This is incredible. I don't know if we've seen anyone from Indonesia doing stuff like this, and he has just gotten better and better as the years have gone on.

[SM]: Wandi has been doing and continues to do fantastic work.

What about more generally, is there a Holy Grail pipe? Something on the bucket list that you just have to pick up when you get a chance?

[JM]: I am not entirely sure.

[SM]: You know it when you see it.

[JM]: That's exactly what I was going to say. A grail pipe is something I will know when I see it, and I will immediately form that connection when I do. As we talk about this, I realized I kind of do have one. It just slipped through my grasp twice.

[SM]: Okay. I know that feeling.

[JM]: From one of the pipe-making expos we held a few years back, Ryan Alden presented us with a Scorpion Tail Calabash.

[SM]: I knew that's what you were gonna say as soon as you said Ryan.

[JM]: I fawned, obsessed, and sang that pipe's praises for days, and I did get to write about it, and then I watched it sell instantly. And that hurt. Then it came back as an estate, and I thought, "Now's my chance." But it was gone before I could even look at it on-site.

I would say that, maybe, is my grail pipe, but if not that, I'll know it when I see it.

[SM]: Okay. That's fair. Hopefully you get the chance to pick that one up or something better comes along that you get to score.

[JM]: We shall see.

[SM]: Thank you, John, for bringing in your pipe collection. Hopefully we'll be doing more collections for you guys to check out in the future.