Blog by Steve Laug

When I met with James in Stuttgart recently I spoke about ordering another pipe from him. On the evening of the day we met I went on his website and a couple of US based sites that carry his pipes and nothing truly caught my eye. I went through his photo gallery of pipes that he had made over the years and chose two different shapes from his website and sent him my request. I really like his Speckled Egg shape and his uniquely rusticated Ria shape. I emailed him regarding these two pipe shapes and let him know of my interest. He said he would let me know when he cut another one of either pipe.

I traveled from Stuttgart to Berlin to meet with another team and do some development work for the Foundation I work for. Then on my last day in Berlin, before heading back to Canada, I got an email from James about a pipe he was in the process of carving. Here is a portion of that email “…I got the urge to do a Speckled Egg… I’ll send you pictures once it’s done… absolutely zero obligation… I just like making the shape… you have first dibs on it if you want”. I could not believe he was already working on one of the shapes I had mentioned. I have to tell you I was really looking forward to seeing the photos of the pipe that he would send.

I spent Friday in the air between Berlin and Vancouver and thus totally out of the loop for emails. When I arrived back in Canada though, I had an email waiting for me with the first photos of the new pipe he was working on. It is shown in the photo below of a group of four that he is currently working on. The pipe that I was interested in is on the bottom left of the photo below. Included with that photo were several other photos showing the new pipe with the one that he had been smoking when we had coffee together. He wrote the following, “As you can see the bowl is more defined… I placed the other in the pic for comparison… I can bring in the shank side of the bowl a tic more if you prefer that, but it sits really nicer in the hand than the original…This is the how the shape has morphed over the years… I have several… It’s my favorite shape…” With those words and the photos he had me. I wanted this pipe to be mine.

Once I had decided that this was the pipe for me James sent me some choices for the stem material. In the above photos he used a black Ebonite and that was beautiful but I had also seen some of his Cumberland stems. There was a particular Cumberland that he had used on other pipes that I liked. It was a Briar Cumberland. That is what I decided to go with and a stain colour that would match. James sent me the following email after I made my choices: “You won’t be disappointed (with the briar Cumberland)… It’s beautiful material… Me and one other guy are the only ones I know using it a lot 😉 The black is a classic color and you can’t go wrong with it, but Cumberland stems are my favorite… I got a lot of criticism from the U.S. Makers early on because of it… Makes me chuckle now… Since they started using different Cumberland mixes in the last year or two. Have a great rest of your weekend… I’ll send you some progression pictures when they warrant it… James”.

Now the wait began. I was looking forward to the updates on the pipe that would come via email. I have to tell you that James letting me be a part of the process of the birth of this pipe was a special bonus for me. I was excited to see how the pipe would develop when he sent the next installments.

I did not have to wait too long. On Sunday morning (Vancouver time) I woke to several more emails from James. These all included updates and photos of the pipe. It had been stained with his contrast colour stains. It looked very similar to the pipe he smoked while we were together in Stuttgart. The newly cut Briar Cumberland stem looked amazing. I could not wait to see it polished. I loved both the shape and the colours of the pipe and stem. The swirls on the Cumberland stem are very similar to the stem on a pipe I had made by Todd Bannard of Briar Sweat and Tears http://www.briarsweatandtears.com/. James included the following message with the photos: “Getting closer… Wait until the stem is polished and bent… ;-)”

I wrote James about my excitement at the look of the stem and the pipe. I really liked the way the Cumberland stem had come out and noted that. James replied, “I told you the briar Cumberland is nice… wait till it’s polished up… it will almost match the colors of the pipe itself”.

The next morning when I opened my email there was another email from James that included five more update pictures of the polished stem. He wrote: “I think you’ll be pleased with the stem… I love this material… And it shines up really nice… and has an awesome pattern on it.”

Once again I wrote back letting him know that the pipe was amazing in my book and I was very pleased. I asked him about the dimensions and he responded with a few more pictures and the dimensions of the pipe. Here are the dimensions:

Length: 5″ 127mm
Width: 1 5/8” 41mm
Height: 2″ 51mm
Bowl depth: 1 3/8” – 1 ½” 35-37mm depending on where you fill it to
Weight: 56 grams

James also wrote: “I normally coat my bowls on all my pipes… but if you don’t want the bowl coated, I’ll need to know before the weekend… I don’t mind leaving it bare for you… I’m pretty sure you know how to smoke a pipe… Ha, ha. James.” I wrote back and asked that he leave it bare for me.

The rest of the week went past quickly with no updates. I knew James put a finish coat on the pipe to set the stain and then did some more polishing. Whatever the process was he said it took about a week before the pipe was completed. Then on Good Friday I received an email that the pipe was finished. James included the following information in his email: “Steve it’s done…. 😉 I like the way the colors came out… Would you like it mailed via German Mail…I can do that tomorrow… or US Mail…that will have to wait till Monday… the German mail should be quicker by a day or two…would be mailed as an international letter… works like a charm each time.”
James included the following finished photos of the pipe to make me salivate. I can’t wait to see it in person. I paid James via PayPal, sent him and email that German mail would be fine. He sent me a notice that the payment came through and a tracking number to trace the shipment.

I have to tell you, I have checked that tracking number on the postal site every day since he sent it to see the progress of the pipe from Stuttgart to Vancouver. Can’t wait until I hold it in hand and see firsthand the workmanship that James puts into his pipes. I am already scheming what tobacco tp break it in with. I have a bit of Mc Clellands 5100 mixed with some Perique that has about 5 years or more in the jar. That may well be my break in smoke. We shall see.