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Beginning in early 2000, while working for a cigar and pipe shop near campus while attending college, I started considering the prospect of establishing a business to sell pipes on the internet. I incorporated Laudisi Enterprises that May, registered Smokingpipes.com that June, and we sold our first pipe that November.
Twenty years and lots and lots of pipes and pipe tobacco later, Smokingpipes occupies a special place in the world of pipes. The company around Smokingpipes — Laudisi — has grown to include a handful of companies, all related to pipes and pipe tobacco. They are Laudisi Distribution Group (created in 2012), Cornell & Diehl (acquired in 2014), and, of course, Kapp & Peterson, Ltd. (acquired in 2018).
So, why all this preamble? Because we wanted to embark on several special projects in 2020 to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We had done anniversary pipes before (Claudio Cavicchi for our 10th anniversary, and Tom Eltang did it for our 15th ), but limiting it to one maker seemed, well, insufficient for the 20th Anniversary. And besides, we really, really enjoy working with factories, pipe workshops, and pipe artisans who do interesting things. Why limit ourselves to one?
Ted Swearingen, Shane Ireland and I decided that these anniversary projects would be with factories and artisans with whom the company — and we — are particularly close. And each project would constitute pipes that personally interested us. Accordingly, these projects were, perhaps unusually for Smokingpipes, more self-indulgent than in the past: We did things we particularly liked. More generally, we know that our personal preferences aren't necessarily reflective of those of the wider body of pipesmokers, but celebrating one's 20th anniversary is a necessarily personal exercise and the pipes should reflect that. Besides, it's my birthday party and I get to choose the theme.
We selected a handful of factories and artisans to work with (we'll announce them as the pipes become available throughout the year) and focused on particularly interesting concepts representing particularly interesting craftspeople in the form of pipes that we ourselves would enjoy smoking.
As plans progressed, on the other side of the Atlantic, Josh Burgess, Jonathan Fields, Giacomo Penzo and others at the Peterson factory in Dublin were busy upgrading Peterson's sandblasting operations. Josh and I talked with lots of artisan pipemakers, and we finally opted for an approach similar to that of artisans — from Tom Eltang to Jeff Gracik to Michael Parks — but bigger, to maintain a continuous flow of sandblasting (Peterson blasts more pipes in a week than most artisan pipemakers do in five years: the process needs to run pretty much all of the time).
By the end of last July, the new sandblasting rig was in place and folks at the factory started dialing in the sundry variables — media, pressure, time, nozzle size. Good results were immediate, but they improved quickly over the ensuing month. By mid-September, Peterson started grading its sandblasts, much as it (and every other pipe factory) grades smooth pipes, based on the quality of grain and the cleanliness of the wood.
Frankly, we were delighted with the results. The blasts consistently improved and some are staggeringly good. We'd already decided that Peterson's contribution to the Smokingpipes 20th Anniversary project would be a silver spigot — silversmithing being so core to Peterson's identity — but we decided to pair some really extraordinary sandblasts with silver spigots (and in some cases, silver spigots and silver caps).
From mid-September to late November, Peterson sandblasted some 3,000 bowls, separated into four grades depending on the quality of the grain structure and the depth of the blast (so, for example, the Premier System Sandblasts use a nicer grade of sandblast than System Standard Sandblasts). For this project, we insisted on sandblasts with character. For us that meant prioritizing depth of blast and cragginess over perfect regularity. Accordingly, William Murray, who does all of Peterson's grading, began selecting bowls from only the two highest briar grades, with a particular focus on depth and strong grain structure
From there, Josh, Glen Whelan (Sales Director for Peterson) and I refined the selections to the most interesting 80 sandblasted stummels, in a wide variety of Peterson shapes, presented in a classic black stain with black acrylic stems. All 80 feature a sterling silver spigot mount (hallmarked for 2019, since these were made in the waning months of that year) and 10 also integrate a sterling silver rim cap.
Perhaps because my enthusiasm for this project continued to amplify, I asked Claudio Albieri to make the pipe socks, in black, with logos for both Peterson and Smokingpipes. Each pipe has been numbered out of 80 and includes a card signed by Glen Whelan and Jonathan Fields.
I hope you like these special Petersons as much as I do.
And this is but the first of the tantalizing projects we've planned for the year. We're going to have fun with it. A special event like this gives us the opportunity — at some level — to just play; to do things that we might not otherwise consider, and to partner with companies and people we particularly like working with. It may seem a little self-indulgent. Sure, we get that. But, seriously, it's our birthday and we feel justified in a little self-indulgence of our pipe fantasies.
Tagged in: 20th Anniversary all pipes considered At Smokingpipes Peterson Pipe Makers Pipe Making Video
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Comments
Great video...beautiful pipes...what an awesome sandblast...great project and looking forward to what comes next...congratulations!
Congratulations, SmokingPipes! Cheers to the project. Will it be available in Europe? Or just the american market? All the best, LV.
Sold Out...had one in my shopping cart...went to place my regular order...Boom...Gone baby gone...
Happy Anniversary! Wow; 20 years. That's a record especially for a hubby such as this! Here's to 20 more and then some.
They sure were pretty. Sorry I missed my opportunity to grab one but I waited 24 hours and that was too long. Maybe some more will surface...maybe not.
Aaaaaannd there gone. Hopefully there will be some more.
Congrats, SPC on your 20th! What a fantastic way to kick off the party (and I say this with absolutely NO bias, of course). Beautiful blasting work from Jonathan, Michail and Willie in the factory, amazing execution by Sykes, Josh and Glen.
Loved the Peterson 20th Anniversary pipes; however, to me a Peterson without a p-lip is not a Peterson, so all were a no-go for me.
Congratulations Smokingpipes! 20 years and you are the best I think. I want to get one but sold out, all the 80 pipes? hope there will be another chance.
My 999 (sadly not one of the ten with the silver caps) is set to arrive tomorrow and I’m very much looking forward to lighting that pretty girl up!
As exciting as Smoking Pipes' 20th Anniversary and release of the Peterson SPC 20th Anniversary pipes are, I am unfortunately disappointed in that the pipe I ordered (No. 7/80) a beautiful Silver
Cap was swapped out with No. 32/80 (two distinctly different pipes). Clearly if a last-minute check was done before shipping this error, my anger and disappointment could have been avoided. The remedies Chris of Sales could offer were keep the pipe at a tremendous markup and take a 10% discount off my next pipe purchase or take a refund. Obviously I'm taking the refund. This experience has truly left a bad taste in my mouth worse than tongue bite!!!
@Timothy M I'm one of the Customer Service Supervisors here at Smokingpipes and I wanted to personally apologize for our error on your order. We have located the 7/80 Silver Cap that you ordered and I am going to reach out to you so we can get the correct pipe in your hands. I'm sorry again for our mix-up and for not having this resolution for you sooner, but rest assured we will make it right!
I would like to purchase the pipe he returned if possible. I would be extraordinarily happy to have something like that!
I would like to purchase the pipe he returned if possible. I would be extraordinarily happy to have it!
@Michael Miller Unfortunately, the pipe isn't available. Two pipes were mistakenly switched in their boxes, so the two pipes were sent to their rightful owners. I'm sorry!