New KazeTamp Logo and the return of “Max’s Pick”

Sometimes I don’t get it right the first time.  Sometimes I don’t even get it right the second time.  Thank heavens three’s a charm.

First there was the KazeTamp 5/32 inch tri-metal logo.  It was a bullseye disk made up of two concentric rings with aluminum on the outer ring, a copper ring next in, all around a brass core.  When I went with the smaller 1/8 inch standard logo changes were in order.

Next was the first 1/8 inch logo with a double ring of aluminum followed by a ring of copper and then a teeny tiny core of brass.  If that sounds like a big production for a little diameter let me assure you that it is!  Despite the labor involved with four components to make up the logo that isn’t why I have gone to the new and present logo.  The bottom line is that I’m not thrilled with the looks of it as it ages.  The aluminum stays nice and bright while the two center metals tarnish at a different rate.  For the Ming logo both brass and copper tarnish at the same rate, but with Kazetamp the rate of tarnish between the aluminum and brass and copper is greatly divergent. 

So, for this reason, and to get a much cleaner look, the new KazeTamp logo will be a solid aluminum disk, mostly 1/8 inch, and sometimes 5/32 when the design calls for it.  From my experience polished aluminum stays very presentable for many, many years.  All things considered the old logo was fine, but the new logo will serve better and provide Caneel and Bali with a nice silver contrast that will shine better and longer for years to come.  Look for the new logo to be phased in as new pieces are finished.

Now, as to Max’s Pick!  As you may know, my one year old Lhasa Apso, Max, likes to pick out  a tamper from my Ming inventory to offer at a special savings.  It can take hours for him to point his little white paw at any one tamp designating it his pick.  Some folks have gotten some great deals thanks to the little guy, but for the past few months Max hasn’t made any picks.  The women of the household demanded that he be neutered, and, as the sole male, and outnumbered, I acquiesced.

I’m pleased to announce that the surgery went well, but as might be expected Max was a bit testy for a while and didn’t feel much like making any tamper picks.  But as time heals all wounds Max is now back in form again and will be back at his tamper picking duties directly.  Look for a return of this popular feature at the Ming-Kahuna web site as soon as today.

Max may have less to lick, but he’s back to make his pick! 

Oh, and one other thing. A number of folks have asked me whether a tamper can be purchased directly from the blog without waiting for the piece to go up on the site.  The answer is “yes” and the fact is that more than a few pieces have sold that way already despite having been only shown as works in progress.  If the tamper isn’t completed it will then go on the front burner to be completed in time for prompt shipment. Payment will be due at the time that the tamper is “reserved”.  This type of acquisition has been quite common on the web site when I showed a piece in progress.  In fact, most of the pieces so displayed sold in that manner. 

Kaze Shapes

A large part of KazeTamp is the creation of tampers that are absolutely one-of-a-kind pieces.  These are tamps that will never be seen again in any way, shape or form.  A number of such pieces have been in the works for years, now nearing completion.  I had planned to kick off KazeTamp with these pieces but took an alternative path first introducing more typical shapes to stay within most people’s comfort zone. 

Other KazeTamp shapes are ones that will be repeated, to a degree.  They are general shapes that are compatible with Caneel and Bali that will be created again and again allowing the shape to evolve over time.  For me the evolution of a shape is a fascinating process that I have the pleasure to witness firsthand.  Sometimes the evolution of a shape is slow and deliberate, and yet other times there are quantum leaps that take a shape into new territory quite quickly.  How that comes down depends on a number of factors including the nature of the beginning platform shape and where my mindset is at any one point.

Other shapes are the transitional shapes that are brought over from Ming-Kahuna as they are naturals for Caneel and Bali.  Some may be one-of-a-kind while others will be done again and again allowing the shape to evolve over time, as has been described.  Part of the fun of this will be to watch how the same base shape evolves in two different brands.  My mindset when I work on a Ming is quite different than when I am working on a KazeTamp.  My thought is that the same basic shape may well follow two decidedly different design paths, or evolutions, heavily influenced by their respective brand.  Only time will tell whether I will be able to adequately compartmentalize to keep the respective design paths separate, each in a vacuum, so to speak.  Just by considering this process puts success at a risk as this must be a natural process, without forethought, so as to allow the concept behind each of the two brands to influence their own progressions. Towards that end I have brought three shapes over from Ming-Kahuna to KazeTamp.

Three shapes were naturals for this ongoing  “project”.  First, there is the Arashi.  The Arashi was basically the Ming version of the KazeTamp Torune-do.  The two shapes are unmistakeably different,  each having their own strong identity.  The benefit of the Arashi is that it offers the possibility of smaller tamps and a more practical fit in more bowls.  It is a heavily organic shape that offers the potential for a lot going on in a relatively little length.  The first piece has been carved and is a gem.

The second shape brought over to KazeTamp from Ming is the Katsu.  How that happened was quite by chance.  One evening I had decided to carve something from Caneel but I couldn’t decide on a shape.  An Osamu Kitajima (my main carving music) CD was playing and the repeated lyrics in the song was “katsu”.  The female Japanese voice kept calling out “katsu”, so, I said to myself “not a bad idea” and began carving.  As I suspected, the new Katsu shape is a slam-dunk natural for Caneel.  The first piece has been carved and it is a real stunner.  The shape, as a starting point, is necessarily a Ming style Katsu.  Where it will go from there remains to be seen but the potential is incredible.

The third shape is the Whisper.  The concept behind the Whisper is that often more can be said with a Whisper than with a shout.  It is one of my conservative shapes that stand in sharp counterpoint to some critics who only see my work as “over the top.”  Clearly they know little of my work as a good portion of what I do are simple, understated (but not boring) elegant shapes.  The Whisper is a prime example.  With the basic Whisper shape, gentle and graceful, the active pattern of Caneel is a good fit.  The black striations can run the length of the tamp adding to the flow, while the active pattern can share the show with a more simple shape.  Now that I’m thinking about it, the Monolith shape is also a natural for this type of partnership of form and pattern.  That may have to happen sooner than later.  But, at any rate, the first Whisper in Caneel is carved and it is a classic.  By the way, while we are on the topic of the Whisper, look for one in all briar coming from Ming-Kahuna soon.  I just need to find the right piece of wood with the right grain. 

Above I have provided a photo of the Whisper in Caneel shown rough carved.  The piece appears a bit stubby compared to how it looks in person, and the scooped out portion of the underside really doesn’t show well, but this is going to be an incredible tamp.  As anyone who owns this shape can tell you, there are subtle contours present that will never show in a photograph.  How this shape will evolve with KazeTamp, or whether it should evolve, remains to be seen.   Shown with the Whisper is a TouchStone in the shape of a scorpion’s stinger.

For more information just drop me a note at mingkahuna@aol.com.   

Carpe Diem!

It seems that more than a few people who read my October 28^th entry thought that I was saying that the end of Ming/Kaze was imminent.  Oh boy, did I put my foot in it!  Nothing could be further from the truth.  All that I meant to say is that I can now see the day coming when the wear and tear that I have inflicted upon myself will be such that I will have to quit, or slow down.  I’m hopeful that time will not come for many years.  I’m 48 years old and still relatively quick on the mend, but as I get older this will change. But please, don’t take anything that I said to suggest anything more.  It was a gloomy day here in Atlanta and the tone of my writing may have been influenced by the steady rain.

That said, in accepting that I won’t be able to do this forever, it got me to think about how much we take for granted in assuming that an artisan’s work will always be available.    Too often the productive life of an artisan is fleeting, and his work is only available for a mere instant, relatively speaking.  It’s like a snowflake falling on a warm pane of glass.  For a split second the full beauty of the flake stands out in bold relief for all to see, and in the next instant it is gone. We assume so much when the future is so uncertain.  So many things can intervene in the life of an artisan to put his craft at risk. From day to day we shield ourselves from such considerations,  allowing us to assume that another such day will come.  That way of thinking may allow us to maintian our sanity, but it’s far less than the full truth.  Like I wrote last year in my “Still Breathing” feature, life is less like traversing a balance beam and more like walking on a razors edge.  The appearance of stability and constancy is mere illusion, one that allows us to face each day optimistic of a status quo, blissfully unaware of the reality of our precarious situation.  It’s only when something of value vanishes like a fart in a sandstorm that we come to understand that our seemingly safe existence was actually one fraught with peril.  It’s then that we are faced with the realization that so much of what we take for granted will come to be is based upon assumptions that may not come to pass.

So, I suppose that the solution, a partial one at least, and at best, is carpe diem: seize the day.  Do not let a day pass without appreciating that particular leg of the journey.  Take stock of how lucky we truly are for having the opportunity to pass through life, such as it is.  

Nothing is forever.

They say that nothing is forever.  I’ve never been quite sure who this “they” is that is always saying stuff, but “they” is one smart cookie. 

When I began Ming eight years ago the end of the road was well over the horizon.  I’ve traveled quite a distance since then and the road has been pretty much uncharted.  I built the road as I went along and that has been quite a task.  Others are traveling that path today, and I’m glad to have cleared the way. 

But, accomplishment is never without cost.   My efforts have not been without great cost.  To do it over again I would have paced myself better, rested my hands and arms more, maybe even taken a few vacations and not worked seven day weeks between law and my craft.  As I stand seemingly at the top of the hill I can now see over the horizon, and there lies the end of the road.

Hands and arms can only take so much punishment.  The time that we have to create, be it pipe maker or tamper maker, is a limited one.  For some it can go on for years, for others of us the run is much shorter.  It just depends on what happens to our joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons.  It depends on where bone spurs develop and ganglions roost.  So much depends upon how debilitating tendonitis becomes and how quickly the symptoms can be treated and abated.  It depends so much upon factors that we have no control over.  The heart and the passion may be there, more so than ever, but if the pain becomes too much there is little left to discuss.

Each day that we as artisans can do what we do is a gift, one that I will never take for granted.

Note: 10/10/06- Thanks for the emails and concern, and I will write more on this later, but please don’t take these words to mean that I am quiting Ming/Kaze any time soon.  I was just looking down the road, hopefully many years from now,  and appreciating that each day is a gift.

He Who Waits

As I went through my newly found box of pipes (see October 26^th  entry) there was one that I had to set aside out of stubbornness if nothing else.  The pipe that you see above is an incredible piece of craftsmanship.  I don’t know if there is another pipe maker that can equal the crisp panels of a Poul Ilsted pipe.  And those of you who know his work will recognize this pipe as one of his signature shapes, and an absolutely gorgeous example it is.  The grain looks as if it was painted on, and the rosewood (or tulip wood) stem band is absolutely stunning.  His pipes go for a pretty penny, and this pipe today would be out of my price range.  A pipe like this should be right up there in one’s collection as to desirability.  So why, up to know, has this pipe been such an utter disappointment?  (if like happy endings, stick around)

A bit of background is in order.  I bought this pipe from a good friend five or so years ago.  He needed the cash for another pipe that he had fallen in love with, so he sold this one to me at a darn good price, maybe $225, which is a steal.  The pipe smoked fine, not great, but fine, so I was happy.  Then, a few years later I was in a similar situation as my friend, raising funds for a pipe that I had to have so I sold the pipe to a friend, basically for what I had paid.  Unfortunately the pipe was back to me within a month.  I was told that the pipe was leaking tobacco juice from between the stem and shank.  I was amazed as the pipe had never done that for me.  The pipe had been fine, but I took the pipe back, as was the right thing to do.

The first thing that I tried to do was to get the pipe to do the leaking thing.  I tried but the pipe didn’t even produce a drop of juice.  Unfortunately the one thing that I did notice was that the pipe was smoking like crap.  It was smoking hot with an absolutely acrid flavor.  As I hadn’t smoked the pipe for a good while before selling it that might have been the case when I shipped it, but I really can’t know.  My friend is very knowledgeable, and extremely honest, so I know that he had done nothing to the pipe.  I was perplexed, to say the least.

There was one thing that I did figure out  and that was due to the way that the pipe was drilled there was a sort of shallow ditch running the length of the mortise roof that cut a slight recess into the face of the mortise/shank.  However slight, it was probably responsible for an imperfect seal between tenon and mortise allowing a bit of juice to escape.  With my smoking style that had never happened.  That’s not really all that unusual as individual smoking style can make a pipe a loser for one guy and a winner for the next.  My smoking style was well matched to the pipe.  Well, for the most part, anyway

The problem still remained that the pipe tasted like crap.  Everything that I put into it, from my staples like Haddo’s to Cumberland to Semois all tasted like crap.  I tried the alcohol/salt treatment three times with no change.  The pipe was worthless to me, and this surprised me greatly.  Everyone that I had ever talked to had found Ilsteds to be fabulous pipes with my experience being the aberration.  I was tempted to buy another one (I sure couldn’t sell the one that I had to fund the acquisition) but it didn’t seem right to me in that I already had one.  I considered giving the pipe away so that someone else might give it a try, but I didn’t want them to have the same disappointment that I had experienced.  Besides, the pipe is just so darn pretty.  It has sat since unsmoked.

So, fast forward over three years to yesterday.  As I unwrapped the pipe I had this inkling of a premonition that the pipe would smoke well.  I don’t know how I knew this, but I did.  Last night I filled it up with Brindle Flake, the tobacco that I have been smoking a lot of lately, and fired her up.  Sure enough, the pipe smoked like a dream.  Initially there was just the faintest edge of the old acrid flavor, but as the flake kicked in it was soon gone.  The one thing that I have noticed is that the pipe’s airway seems very wide open, in fact almost too wide open, so I’m wondering if somewhere along the life of this pipe (my friend who sold it to me wasn’t the first owner) the pipe was opened up, a technique that has gotten to be popular, and in my opinion way overused. I suspect an amateur hand (not my friend) caused that shallow ditch in the mortise roof.  But in any event, it matters not as I now have my Ilsted back smoking like champ with the only tobacco that I will put in it.  I have no firm idea of what the story was with all of the issues, but I seem to have found the right balance for the pipe, a ritual that I will follow for as long as I own it.

This all goes to show about what they say about he who waits.