Blog by Steve Laug

For most of the month of March I have been in Europe doing some work for the Foundation I am with. I spent some time earlier in the month in Athens, Greece before coming to Stuttgart, Germany last week. Previous to the trip I had written James Gilliam about the possibility of getting together while I was in Stuttgart. I had some free time on Thursday afternoon so we met up for a bowl or two and a coffee at a local coffee shop. We met and visited for a few hours and talked pipes and pipe making. I learned quite a bit about some of the polishes, stains and tools that James uses and will be hunting them down with the links he sent me later that evening. I appreciated James making time to get together and enjoyed our visit. We had chatted over the internet on forums and via email previously but this was the first face to face meeting. I have one of James’ pipes – a nice bamboo billiard that I thoroughly enjoy. It is a great smoking pipe. I also have one of James’ restorations – a restemmed Yello-Bole that is also a favourite. I traded him for that a while back and originally was going to sell it. The stem was so nicely made that once I had it in hand I kept it. James makes one of the best stems from button to tenon that I have found. The shaping and button/slot work is excellent and make a very comfortable smoking pipe. His drilling is open and the draw is effortless.

When I contacted James and arranged to meet him in Stuttgart before my trip I went through some of my pipes and chose one that I would give him. The gift pipe, a horn-shaped pipe stamped Little Champion seemed to be the one that stood out. It had a nice blast and a unique shape. It was a little one but it is about the size James makes his pipes. The write up on the refurb on this one can be found here: https://rebornpipes.com/2014/12/24/the-little-champion-057-horn-reborn/

We enjoyed some coffee and conversation and James laughingly said that he was smoking his pipes instead of selling them. He had been smoking one of his speckled egg pipes while we visited and a small little billiard lay on the table. It had a lovely shallow blast and an aluminum end cap. The stem was a faux military mount that sat nicely inside the end cap. James had turned the aluminum end cap and polished it until it shone. The ivory coloured polyester stem looked like ivory. The soft colour and the smoothness of the polyester gave the pipe stem a warmth and depth that was beautiful. Then to my surprise at one point in the afternoon James gifted me the little billiard. I could not believe that James gave me this pipe. It is an amazing gift and a great smoking pipe. I have been smoking some aged Louisiana Red in it since I returned from Germany and the size, shape and weight and the craftsmanship have made it an instant favourite. Thanks so much James for the unexpected gift. I look forward to other JSEC pipes joining this one and the bamboo shank pipe in my rack in the days to come.