Blog by Steve Laug

On my recent trip to Milan, Italy I was struck by the reach and the breadth of connections of rebornpipes. I visited the Al Pascia Shop in the city and was known. I had given my rebornpipes business card to the proprietor when I arrived and once he looked at it he said he knew me. It turned out he was a long-time reader/follower of rebornpipes. I was known in a city I had never visited in a shop that I had never been to before. It was because of rebornpipes.

During the trip I was speaking with Paresh in India and told him of the experience and he shared that he had a similar one. He spoke of a pipe that he purchased from a seller in Turkey who upon hearing his name immediately felt connected because he had read Paresh’s work on rebornpipes. Once again it was because of rebornpipes.

I have had that experience repeated numerous times in a variety of pipe shops around the world wherever I have visited them. As with these times the link is always rebornpipes. The connection is very real and the reach is quite wide. I never cease to be amazed.

This gave me pause to reflect on what is happening now that rebornpipes is close to 10 years old (May 1, 2022). There are many writers/contributors from around the world who have shared their restoration and refurbishing work on the blog. None of us are paid for our contributions. We are merely doing it for the desire to pass on what we are learning and to encourage others to step out and give refurbishing a try. For every one of those readers who write and tell us of our influence there are many who never have written but when we meet them in person they speak out like they know us very well.

It is these silent ones that I continue to run into around the world who somehow feel connected to us because of a common love of all things pipe related. When I began rebornpipes many years ago I had hoped to provide a place for this to happen. I wanted it to became a community of restorers and refurbishers who shared their work, techniques and the learning curve with each other and any one interested enough to follow us and read.

In many ways that continues to happen quite remarkably. Many have joined the community and shared their experiences and work with the larger community. A side result that has happened, that I never imagined, is that an ever growing number of folks have created their own refurbishing blogs and Pipe Related blogs and have broadened and enriched the hobby. Examples of these blogs include Charles Lemon’s DadsPipes, Mark Irwin’s Peterson Pipe Notes, Dal Stanton’s The Pipe Steward, Ryan Thibodeau’s Lunting Bear Pipe Restoration and a host of others.

The beauty of this of course is the expansion of the hobby through the reach of each of these blogs as well as through the ongoing contributors to rebornpipes. People such as early contributors – Al Jones, Fred Bass, Gan Barber, Chuck Richards, Kirk Fitzgerald, Piet Binsbergen, James Gilliam, Al Shinogle, Greg Wolford, Robert Boughton, Brian Devlin, Bas Stevens, Mark Domingues, Eric Boehm, Les Sechler, Martin Farrent, Mike Leverette, Alan Chestnut, AJ Verstraten, Josiah Ruotsinoga, Cody Huey, Chiz Szymanski, Jace Rochacki, Joey Bruce, John Williams,  Joyal Taylor, Bill Tonge, Pat Russell, Andrew Selking, Anthony Cook, Aaron Henson, Troy Wilburn, Dave Gossett, Dutch Holland, Bill Hein and Joe Gibson had all contributed articles throughout the early days of the blog.

That does not take into account the current contributors – Al Jones (continues to faithfully post), Dal Stanton, Paresh Deshpande, Kenneth Lieblich, Mike Belarde, Bri Hill, Ryan Thibodeau, Jeff Laug, Alex Heidenreich, Viktor Naddeo. Like any time you make a list of contributores I am sure there are others that I have missed both past and present.

The lists above give you an idea of the breadth of the contributors and the amazing thing is that they are from many countries. They include men and women and people from a wide range of ages and walks of life. This alone is remarkable but the level of craftsmanship and ingenuity demonstrated by these folks is even more so. Rebornpipes has truly gathered a company of fine folks who contribute much to the hobby we love and serve.

This is all behind the scenes and many readers do not see the many names of those who have written or are writing for rebornpipes. It is gratifying to me to think about when you consider the humble beginning we had in 2012. I had put many articles on the blog and few people actually bothered to stop by and read it. Then one day Neill Archer Roan published a post on his own widely read blog encouraging people to check out rebornpipes. I am forever grateful to him for his vote of confidence.

To get a feel for the growth lets look as some numbers. In 2012 there were 39,646 views and 2,316 visitors. This year (up to October 8) there have been 340,700 views and over 166,800 visitors. The blog has had visitors from every continent and from over 200 different countries around the world. I am astonished at the growth. I want to take this time to thank all of you for your contributions and patronage over the years.

I sit quietly now as I finish my reflections on this post. I have to confess that never in my wildest dreams did I think that this would happen. Never did I imagine walking into a shop in another country to look at a pipe and tobacco and have the folks in the shop say that they know me. Those are things that are beyond my comprehension. I am just thankful to have been able to put together a blog that obviously meets a need and has created its own niche not only here in Canada but around the world. Thank you all for you help in making this a reality.