Tag Archives: Steve Morrisette Pipes

Enjoying a Steve Morrisette Custom Modified Sandblast Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have been on a recent pipe buying binge and before I took my trip to Europe I ordered a new one. I had seen that Steve Morrisette had been posting some great looking smooth and sandblast finished pipes for sale on Facebook. I have several of Steve’s pipes and they are great smokers. He was selling these for $125 shipped buyers choice. He called them SM Modified pipes. The pipe below showed up in one of his listings and I was hooked. It was a beautiful sandblast pipe with an amber acrylic taper stem. The stain looked to be oxblood or cordovan but I liked it either way. There was a smooth band on the shank end that looked great against the stem. Here is a photo of the pipe from Steve’s listing.I wrote Steve the following email with a few questions and to see if he would ship to Canada. I have included our email exchange below. First my questions and second his response. I specify as we are both Steve!

Hi Steve
Hope you are doing well… I am definitely interested in the sandblast SM Modified pipe. Is it still available? Will you take PayPal? Can you tell me what is modified other than the stem??

Hi Steve!
Yes, still available. I thinned down and opened the mouthpiece up and got the drilling correct. Cleaned up the blast and coated the bowl, stained it with cordovan stain, put a VERY light coat of shellac and then melted a light coat of powdered beeswax on it. Now the engineering is correct and it is a pretty nice pipe – and handsome too. Big capacity but not overly heavy. Hope that answers your query.

So now I knew clearly what the modifications are that he makes to the pipe. I really like the way he engineered my previous pipes so I was looking forward to seeing how well this beauty would smoke. We struck the deal and he shipped it out before I left on my trip. When I returned over a week ago the pipe was still not here so I was wondering if perhaps it had been stuck in customs. Then yesterday a very beat up box with the dreaded yellow customs tape signalling that it had been opened arrived. It was so squashed and beat up that I wondered what I would find inside. But when I opened the box all was intact and the pipe was in perfect condition. I took some photos of it once I had unwrapped it. The sandblast is even more beautiful in person than in the photos. The mechanics of the pipe are perfect and the draught exactly how I like it. Here are some photos of the pipe. I took photos of the pipe in a silver pipe rest to get a sense of the proportion and look of the pipe in a rest position on my desk top. It is a beauty that I hope to smoke this weekend. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping on the pipe. It is clear and readable. It has the Steve Morrisette oval SM logo stamp and underneath that is a CM stamp which I am assuming means Custom Modified.I removed the stem from the shank to capture the variations in colour on the amber acrylic, the Delrin tenon and the cordovan stain on the sandblast. It really is a beauty! I am looking forward to loading up a bowl of some aged tobacco I have here and enjoying a bowl this weekend when Kenneth stops by. My only wish regarding this beauty is that it would have been great to see some before photos to know what the pipe looked like before Steve worked his magic on the pipe. But all things considered it is not necessary as it is a beauty. Thanks Steve for a great pipe. If you are looking for a well made pipe at a reasonable price you might contact Steve Morrisette about these Custom Modified pipes. Here is his email if you want to reach out to him smpipes1@gmail.com . Enjoy your pipes!

 

A Review – A Steve Morrisette Tomato

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I commissioned this pipe from Steve and had a great time working with him as he designed and executed the work. The pipe is a beauty. Its length is 5 ½ inches and the bowl height is 1 3/8 inches. The bowl diameter is 1 ¾ inches. The chamber diameter is 3/4 inches and depth is 1 1/8 inches. It sports a hand cut acrylic stem. The pipe is a small squashed tomato shape with a ¼ bent stem that fits well in the hand. The shank is shaped like a shield with the right and left sides curving up to a rounded point on the top of the shank. The underside of the shank is a flattened peak with centre ridges that runs the length of the shank. The lower edges of the right and left side are sharp and straight lines that run the length of the shank. From the top the shank flares wider as it moves toward the stem. It has band of black acrylic and then an amboyna shank extension. The stamping is an older Steve Morrisette stamping.
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The finish on the outside of the pipe is a sandblast that is visually very pleasing. It is not too deep a blast but highlights the ring grain on the sides, front and back of the bowl and on the bottom edge of two angular sides of the shank. On the bottom of the bowl and shank is a beautiful sandblasted birdseye that highlights the pattern of the grain. The rim was sandblasted and then sanded smooth leaving a few small birdseye grain visible under the smoothed out blast. There is a thin smooth band between the acrylic band and the shank that was also sandblasted. The mortis is countersunk so that the stem sits into the shank extension. There is a very tactile feel to the sandblast on the bowl and shank that feels great as the bowl warms during a smoke.
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The bowl is stained with a dark brown or black under stain that goes deep into the grooves of the blast and highlights the deeper parts of the blast and the rings and whorls on the birdseye. The higher parts of the blast are stained with a medium brown stain that is a perfect match to the colour of the shank extension. The medium brown is relatively smooth on the rim and on the thin band just ahead of the acrylic band on the shank. In contrast to the bowl and shank Steve cut a black acrylic stem that picks up the thin black band on the shank. The blacks/dark brown stain on the sandblast also provides contrasting highlights to the total package of the pipe. Steve did a great job on the stain and finish of the pipe.
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The stem itself very nicely worked. It is an acrylic stem that is cut at the same flared angles as the shank. The shank extension is crowned and the stem is inset into the crown giving it a very delicate look. The delicate look and feel of the stem deceptive for it has strong lines that form the smooth flat sides of the stem and taper toward the button on both sides. Steve did an amazing job shaping the stem. The short blade of the stem is thin and has a good even tapered flow from the saddle to the button. It is matched in terms of angles on the top and the bottom and on the left and right side of the stem. The design along with the slight bend makes it fit very comfortably in the mouth. It also rests well enough that it can be clenched quite easily. The Delrin tenon has been set into the acrylic of the stem and is the same length as the mortise. The fit is snug. The end of the tenon has been funneled for good airflow.

The button is very thin in width but is elevated above the surface of the stem so that it gives a good edge for holding behind the teeth. It is thinner on the edges with a gentle rise at the centre top and bottom. The slot in the end of the button is inward at the same angles as the exterior of the stem to deliver a mouthpiece that has the same diameter from start to finish. It is also wide open and oval with the same distance from the outer edge of the button to the inner edge of the slot all the way around.
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The mechanics of the pipe are well done. The bowl chamber came with a bowl coating that seemed to be a combination of carbon and a neutral binder. The bowl is drilled at an angle back toward the shank in order to maximize the depth of the bowl with the thin profile of the bent tomato shape. It is also a conical bowl. Steve did a great job with that alignment. I removed the bowl coating before I smoked it and there were no pits or checking in the bowl. The draught hole is centered at the bottom of the bowl and seems to have a slight slope from the bottom to the top of the airhole. There is a very easy and open draw to the pipe. The fit of the stem in the inset shank extension is smooth and tight. The tenon sits deep in the mortise – if not exactly the same length then impressively close! The fit of the tenon is also smooth. The drilling of the draught in the shank is centered in the end of the mortise. The tenon on the stem is drilled to match it and there is no misalignment to the two. The air pulls clearly through the pipe with no whistling at all. Using a light to shine through the various airways reveals smoothly executed airways on the inside. Very nice work on the drilling Steve it is extremely well executed.
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I have been smoking it since I received it and am very happy with it. I have smoked Virginia flake and broken flake tobaccos in it and it packs easily and stays lit. Smoking it is a pleasure and is uncomplicated and effortless. I purchased this one quite awhile ago before Steve moved south to work in a new shop. I have been pleased with it from the start as it has always smoked smooth with none of the new pipe break in woes. Thanks Steve for a well-made pipe that smokes as good as it looks! I am not sure you remember making this one for me but it is one of my favourites.