UK Pipe Makers Meet Up 2024

The annual meet up of UK pipe carvers!
Send enquiries to devilsreef@gmail.com

Other links:
Merchandise:
https://www.redbubble.com/people/deefurdee/shop?artistUserName=deefurdee&collections=827902&iaCode=all-departments&sortOrder=relevant

https://www.eldritchpipes.com

H you meant to say action no no I thought I’d just surprise you by starting I saw without without you know getting everyone tense or self-conscious and I’ll just start it in my own time okay yeah you know you’re not officially on camera yeah I can see the little red

Light he’s going to put all this [ __ ] in and some takes it be funny it you got ble machine no bleep machine so you’ll be have to be on your best behavior who you looking at me for all right hello goblins it’s Chris ELD pipes it’s an episode of well not

This week’s pipes it’s an episode of pipe makers Gathering let’s call it that let’s have a look who’s here I’m not going to tell you their names cuz we got a bit for that say hi hi hello right there you go yeah it’s a a pipe makers Gathering

We’ve had so I thought we’d uh we’d get everyone to have a chat and see who they are and what they’ve been up to so uh who we got first why don’t you introduce yourself who are you who am I I’m in your house you should know uh I’m Chris aswith um

What do you want to know you’re a pipe maker that’s true isn’t it it is it’s the reason I’m here so how long have you been a pip maker 177 years which is a long time which is a long time how or why if if those questions

Are the same did you get into pipe making just an accident it was an accident just an accident because I was a pipe smoker and I was tinkering with pipes and I got the opportunity to make a pipe that was that just fell into it so with with no

Guidance so how did you teach yourself then I had one lesson of somebody demonstrating how to make a pipe and then I had a go and never stopped that’s it we talked a little bit before would you say that you gained most of your did you gain most of your

Knowledge online or did you get gain most of your knowledge just by trying to do stuff and just giving it a go uh trying to do stuff learning from mistakes talking with a friend about it watching online trying this trying that A lot of trial and error and just

Improving try and improve every time awesome that’s the only way you can do it really very true all right apart from pipe smoking and making what do you do do you do anything else no that’s not entirely true though is it you do cooking I’ve got everybody’s got to eat

So I do cook yeah but you’re always cooking um adventurous things aren’t you I don’t like to eat the same meal twice if possible so I like to try cooking something different every time okay what was the last dish that you made there’s a bit you’re going to have

To gotcha yeah got me there never mind all right pasta all right pasta cuz you’ve never eaten pasta before no okay what how would you describe your pipe style uh classic shapes with a modern twist is what I would usually try and describe them as and what other people usually

Describe them as so I take a classic shape to begin with and try and make a very refined version of that shape and then add color interesting finishes change the proportions make it mine basically I would add that your your pipes are very I would say that they’re very precisely

Shaped yeah try I try and get the lines as crisp as I depending on the shape but try and get crisp lines sharp edges tight trans transitions if it’s a poker it’s going to have very straight sides a tight transition between the shank and the bowl um same with a billiard tight

Cheeks sharp lines that kind of thing and your your ability to repeat details is is pretty astonishing because I’ve noticed both me and Aiden noticed like your your buttons are just like across about a million pipes they’re all the same yeah I try and try and standardize

Them as best I can and try and keep those details as close to the same for each pipe as I can I mean for a handmade item to keep that detail repeated across you know a billion rep um repetitions is is pretty amazing yeah I’d say things like my button is not I

Wouldn’t say many people make a button in the shape that I make it and so I use that as one of my design features that you you can recognize my pipe from not just its logo but the the style and the shaping yeah and the button being one of

Them or the shank to bowl transition or um the style of the stem like the the way it flares the lines on the top and the bottom let’s just can I just show detail because it’s it’s quite a pronounced curve yeah there with the in both the button both directions it’s um rounded

Over really neat straight slot really nice flare on that stem CU I do flares on my stems but not as pronounced as as that I just probably a straight taper yours has a lovely yeah I try to keep the width of the button fairly consistent across all pipes pretty much

All about 17 and a half to 18 millimet wide at the mouthpiece even even on small pipes or larger pipes um so I’m trying to keep that shape the same and so they they’ll all feel the same in the mouth if possible and you’re quite well known for making mortar pipes as opposed

To Bri yes and probably one of the only people making English morar pipes as a osed to do you mean as in Mortar from England mortar from England yeah gotcha awesome cheers Chris get out the box seat who’s next one of the two come on in in hello chap introduce

Yourself hi I’m Stuart from Jolly pipes Stuart how long have you been a pipe Maker two and a half years so what prompted you to get into the pipe making dad used to be a pipe smoker then I started pipe smoking and I thought maybe

I should give it a bash at making a pipe so um luckily for me a pipe maker from Bolton area jonty pipes oh yeah I got in touch with jty um he made me a pipe I thought yeah it’s a nice looking pipe but wanted to make me own pipe so I

Went to see jonty one day spent an afternoon in his garage made me first ever pipe and it’s kind of escalated from there did you make that first part did you make it from scratch or did you make no it was it was from scratch it was it yeah yeah

Yeah and uh like I say when I first started making pipes um all the stems were pre-made stems but you you’re limited to what you can make with a pre-made stem you are you know so obviously Johny showed me how to make a pipe and uh it went from there so have you

Never used a pipe kit before no okay I must never used a life before never used a life you know I’ve seen LA but never used a life enough so um yeah quite a steep learning curve really was that was that during Co or that was no that was

After Co after Co it was yeah cuz I knew there was like there was a rash of new pip Joan but you’re came after those yeah it was after that yeah Fair dud what else do you do part making right I do a lot of cycling that’s to me hobby

As well but um I work for a living I A dispatch manager in a small family concern who make PVC windows and doors and I work in Bolton um so how much time do you reckon you get to put to into pipes um I would

Say anywhere between 4 45 if I’m 45 to an hour on a night time if I get chance you try to do it most day yeah try to try to sometimes I always say to myself oh I’m going to take a three week break from making a pipe but after about a

Week I started getting it itchy feet then so I’ve got to start making another pip understandable you know but I’m quite I like classic shapes favorite shape is me uh I do love I like a love it this one of your guys yes this one of

My loveits show them up to the camera there awesome what’s that pipe stem material it’s acrylic it’s called hurricane gray yeah it’s a quite a heavy rustication um stamped at the bottom obviously with a jolly pipe stamp and I have this little inlay in the top now little brass pin in the top

Let’s just show that it’s a nice detail cool what else am I going what oh yeah maybe you just answered this I was going to ask you what’s your pipe style pipe style yeah like I say Classics RH Asians uh bulldogs so we’re talking like English

Classics yeah but I do like to push the boat out a bit sometimes test myself you know quirky shapes you know um like the one I brought in today which I showed you was like the the eye shape the oval shape full oval shank you know um but yeah

I enjoy making it it’s a it’s a say it’s just a I’m a hobbyist pipe maker I enjoy doing it you I get a lot of enjoyment out of doing them as well I’ve had some good teachers I’ve had Ian Walker from northern briers he’s always been a big

Help showed me a lot of things um I’ve had a bit of help off Aiden when I first started you know and obviously from jonty you know there’s a lot of good lads we can talk to get tips if you ever need them absolutely you know from

Yourself and whatnot cool have you found things like cuz you were at this year’s no last year sorry UK pipes yeah have you found those positive events oh yeah that was Shadow a doubt if you don’t go then obviously people are not going to know you they’re not going to see you

Work are they so it’s best to get there get your work out hopefully take off from there absolutely you know cool sold a few pipes abroad but that’s it’s all about is it nice oh where’s where would you say your main customer Bas is at the moment

At the moment um USA at the moment is the state yeah yeah yeah okay about a few yeah all right awesome cheers thank you very much nice to meet you Stuart hey brilliant in your C next in the hot seat H Le afternoon guys how are we not

Bad good introduce yourself uh lee mastera Peete pip some some of you might know me on Instagram P pipes UK aesome that’s me you can now see me how long have you been making pipes I’ve been making pipes for a couple of years now so March is my

The first time I made it two years ago two years yeah awesome quite quite new learning every day it’s exciting interesting lots of problems well I mean pipe making is definitely uh maybe it never stops it’s primarily a problem solving um it can be certainly certainly when

You’re fairly new to it nothing comes easy to start with but yeah all good fun um how or why did you get into P making um it’s a bit of a bit of an odd story um love it my son who’s in the Royal Engineers um he came back up from

Uh a a a training uh exercise down south in chattan um and he came back up and they’d been to a cigar shop and brought some pipes back up with him and some tobacco and I completely forgotten about pipes um my uncle used to smoke pipes my

Granddad did um but I’d like a cigar now again but never thought of smoking pipes so he brought them back up and I went I like that so how to go with that with some pipes and tobacco and then it kind of spiraled from there so then I bought

Lots of pipes Mrs M said rather than buying all these pipes why don’t you try and make some pipes CU I’ve always been fairly handy with wood I’ve done a bit of L turning and that kind of stuff before um and so it sort of started started from there um I knew

Stuart Jordie pipes and John T um quite well and they started dabbling in pipes and it kind of escalated from there so I kind of tagged on to what they were doing went went through varing processes and I kind of made my first pipe and it

Was all right for what it was um but yeah it went from there then I went to see Aiden a few times um and he’s helped me quite a lot you guys give us tips all the time it’s kind of go from there so yeah really good so how long have you

Been smoking a pip smoking a pipe for about five years okay so all right I’m putting it relative relatively new in the whole scheme of things really um but yeah cool how would you describe your your pipe style if you can um I I don’t think I have a particular style to be

Fair are you drawn to any particular shapes uh no not really I I tend to just go with what I feel like making at the time so um whilst I’ve got a lot of influence from traditional English shapes being being from here and and some of the guys that have shown me bits

And pieces heavily into that the likes of Iden the heslewood pipes and that kind of stuff I’ve still not gone down a certain route so I kind of like to explore different shapes um and I’ve done a bit of that you might have seen it on the Instagram um all sorts of

Stuff and fced stuff to I mean this is a a squash tomato shape there I like to do a bit of carving and all sorts of stuff just different variations on on shapes and whatever you but yeah so you reckon you’re still would you say that you’re still finding your style probably still

Developing a style as such um whether it’ll end ever end up being sort of pigeon hold into anything I’m not sure but I just enjoy it and I quite like exploring different stuff and different R locations it might just be maybe you don’t even wind up with one style in

Particular you might have like I mean I have at least two strands of pipe making yeah definitely and like you know I switch between the two maybe you’ll have five strands quite possibly yeah and just do it a lot just depending on what frame of mind you’re in exactly awesome

Um I was going to say show us you’ve just shown I’ve just shown it B so you’ve seen that all right seriously thanks Grace next up come on in hi Mike hi Chris you good yeah all right where are you let’s get you make sure you’re in the camera all

Right are um are all the phones turned off mine’s still on but not expect in call introduce yourself Mike Billington Blake Mar BR Blake Mar wrers yeah right this is going to be an interesting one H how long have you been a pip maker fulltime uh 38 years

Man so you a part part-time P maker before that I for the uncle um first experience of making Parts was uh helping the uncle when I was 11 uh holiday at his house and spending the time helping him make pipes in the factory staining pipes yeah not quite nothing nothing that too

Much responsibility yeah yeah in those days my uncle employed a lot of people was churning out a lot of pipes um and the in those days you had a little vulcanite on the vulcanite had a little uh stamp right um which was waxed in and then you put the wax on and then

Uh it’ll be a a letter or shape or something uh so you you’d rub the wax in and then rub it off with a cloth and that’s what oh yeah you You’ fill the fill the St with the wax got you so me and my sister used to do that when we

Were on holiday but that was about 60 years ago BS yeah that was my first introduction I didn’t start smoking aart until I was a bit old that’s nice to know 17 when I first uh smoked a p that sounds all right yeah yeah yeah I spent uh six months between school and

College full-time in the factory um just doing all jobs really but uh so you are pretty much lifetime involved in P making one way or the other pretty much yeah oh just that’s that’s that’s Blended right into the next question which is how how did you get into it so

Is it’s a family business is it uh yeah yeah my uncle um uh learned from his father who was Apprentice to a pip maker in London in the 1870s yeah he worked for a number of um pipe makers in London uh over a period of 20 years so

And then set up on his own back in northamptonshire uh in 1890 he died in 1936 in mil started making full time then apart from during the war course couldn’t get the Bri yeah that’s fair enough yeah and he retired in 86 I took over full time then right awesome I don’t

Think asking your pipe style makes any sense does it because you make a boatload of classic English shapes and then but you do you make some handmade pipes I because you’ve been making them for the four horseman at least um so you can pretty much turn your hand to that’s

Required um I’m trying to take it a bit easier these days only work uh part-time really these days cuz get old apart from Pike making then what else do you like gardening really Gardener spend uh half the time in the garden weather permitting you have more green thumb

Than me then because I can’t stand the card did you oh you got a pipe oh you got a pipe with you is this one that you your factory yeah yeah yeah that’s a I’d call that auli would you call that aulu no I call it a Woodstock a Woodstock

Yeah that’s good cuz uh me used to call it a wood stop Zulu but it’s oval rather than round oval shank yeah nice yeah we let’s not get into naming conventions now all right thanks Mike okay last but not least Hi how are you I’m fine you’re good you

Are in the camera you know what I’m just going to move move a sec there you go why don’t you introduce yourself well I be a walker from northern Bryce and uh I’ve been making pipes for 50 coming up to 52 years 52 years that’s heck of a

Long time how did you how did you get into it was uh it’s a family business my uh my grandfather uh started at Duncan and uh he taught my father in the 50s and I went uh straight from school in uh 72 I’ve been there ever

Since when did you did you start working in a in the pipe Factory in the in the in the factory that was was Factory it was 12T by 8 by 24t and three of us worked together there when did you start working on your narrow

Boat uh 2002 so we worked in uh Ultram and then we moved to I moved to Heaton Mo in 83 and by 2002 I worked on uh my Nar boo because traveling to Stockport from middle witch every every day was uh taking a lot of

Time so I thought well we could work at home the only way to work from home when you live on on a boat have the boat stretched and the workshop put in there and now I’ve got a 4 foot commute just it’s not bad because that’s probably the most

Unique uh pipe Workshop I’ve ever see on a boat yeah it’s uh people think it rocks it doesn’t Rock it’s uh the boat’s 20 on ton so stable in the water stable enough yeah everything’s in hand everything’s to hand it’s only it’s only uh 11 foot long by 7 foot wide but uh

Everything’s to hand and you were I’m in the middle so I’m working front and behind what would you say is your pipe style if do you have one classic English uh seems to be the orders but I do get the commissions for um unusual stuff see urchins uh

Fossils and I put my hand to everything Spear Fish the last one we did in the um the Four Horseman set we did uh I got I got water I thought well not going do a c it’s too obvious so I we went for the spear fish yeah Spear Fish saw that

And I’ve seen you use uh seash shells sticking balls into seashells and stuff well I got that from Italian Italian PL maker saw in Dortmund one one trip I went there and uh they were um I thought that’s just a seashell it’s uh they put the bowl inside and drill the seashell

You got to get it right it works that was a pretty to SL the right seashells but yeah but the the point is is that you you can yeah when you I’ve seen you like go I’ve seen a shape I’m going to give that one a go so you know

You could tell that your mind is always alive to new shapes and possibilities I’m always on the lookout if I have more time i’ try and emulate some of your shapes uh at the moment it’s there’s plenty of work on and uh it’s you got to

Make what you can to make a living rather yeah do something artistic more artistic like yourself I think you’re probably one of the most prolific pipe makers certainly that I’ve met you can dwarf the amount of pipes that I can make in a week but I guess that comes

From practice experience having the right equipment and having the right equipment well at the moment so I’ve got another I’m working on 10 at the moment and I’ve got um that’ll be about 100 I’ve done this year so far amazing because I keep I keep a record how many pipes

Think I think I’ll probably reach a 100 pipes by the end of the year something like that um do you have a pipe is that one yeah that’s what of I got this one it’s it’s one I took a deposit on Christmas and waiting for the

Balance and uh he said bring a pipe and and the situation ation was I just posted 16 to America and I’ve got 10 part made on the bench the only pipe I got is this one so it’s not exactly uh the best pipe in the planet but uh it’s

A nice enough pipe nice that’s like a paneled pan yeah with fluts what stem material have you use for that is this is that like um U as in V yeah awesome cheers okay right have I embarrassed everyone yeah but there we got one more embarrassment going to take this chair

Going to sit there is that what you were Ming about to yourself got three minutes to embarrassing yeah that’s right it’s nice joining you here way hello goblins this is the interview you’ve all been waiting for and uh the four guys behind us that you’ve all seen and said

Yes it’s a good idea so now I’m going to interview what’s your name my name’s Chris Chris Chris Kelly Chris Kelly from from eldri pipes eldrich pipes right so can you read my wife yeah yeah yeah how long have you been a pipe maker Chris

I’ve been a pipe maker for 10 years uh including the first year when I didn’t I didn’t sell any pipes I was just I was just trying to get get good good enough to sell yeah so how did you get into it so I smoked a pipe for a number of years

I don’t remember how many because there’s a there was uh I went to college in Stratford and there was that uh L tobacconist which was the first oh yes the first real tobacconist I ever saw and bought a pipe from there smoked pipe for a couple of years left it for a

Couple of years and then I don’t remember what drew me back to it but um started smoking pipe again and I saw that they had a a pipe kit so L tobacconist had a pipe kit in their window so I thought I’ll give that a go

So you made it from a kit and my first pipe was my first two pipes for pipe kits and then um I had an idea that maybe this would be a good way to go and get out of my job that I hated which was what working in uh the library

Service yeah which had started off well but i’ I’d grown apart from it so I saw pip making as a possible way out and that’s yeah so I put all my energy into trying to get good at pipe making so um apart from pipe making what else do you

Do now yeah other than pip nothing nothing I know exactly what you mean I used to be a musician I used to do music what did you play guitar right um it’s all so you got to be your fingers yeah yeah I like to think so but yeah I don’t

Do music anymore because it’s all about pipes you I’ve ask you what style do you use but everybody that watches your videos know that but come on what’s your favorite shape to make my favorite shape to make in terms of like Simplicity I really like to make the Viking horn

Because it’s like a simple flow that’s really pleasing that’s the one you smoke on your videos me no that’s the acorn all right oh I know the Viking corn yes yes yeah yeah that guy um but probably probably the most rewarding shape to make is the snail because it’s there’s quite a lot

Of elements to it it takes a long time yeah but by the time you get to the end of it and you do and you do these with you with the ball yeah ball of colored ball in the middle of it as well yeah that’s right and you also you make your

Own rods and I make my own rods yes thanks yes I even sell them as well excellent I’ve had a few I think I think everybody here’s had some off Chris and uh show was one of your pipes I didn’t bring a pipe his his Chris’s workshop and he hasn’t got a

Pipe let me show your pipe there’s your Acorn there’s my beaten up Acorn there you go of which on which all of their acorns are are based yes so I just make one little point that you can see all these pipe makers at the British pipe smoking championships which is held in Middle

Witch on Saturday 11th of May that’s nine weeks today so if you come along you’ll be able to meet all these pipe makers plus a few others and it’s going to be a great day for everybody you cheeky sord he said you could plug that you can ED why

Not we’ll all be there I don’t we all be there that’s why said it if it was someone who wasn’t I wouldn’t have said it as if I’m plugging it for myself I plug it for all of us absolutely right we’re done yeah we’re done thanks all

Right that’s a surprise you might as well stick there stay there right now all right I’ve got to sign off all right so now you’ve met pip makers old and new um I’ll see you on the next video probably next uh this week’s pipes till then take you very easy your loyal pipe

Makers tada