Hello. Good to hear from you. Please stop by again. The tamper that you see above may not be a pipe, but it is very similar to one. The size is almost the same. I make these tampers so that I will not be tempted to make pipes!!
Hello Newbs. I’m afraid that I must decline your generous offer of White Castles (I had Krystals yesterday) as both Hira1 and Hira2 are spoken for. Hira1 will remain with me as the first of its kind. Hira2 has sold based upon in-progress photos with a price range of $450 to $525. The grain on Hira2 is to die for. The best part is that Hiras feel wonderful in the palm (“palm” is “hira” in Japanese) and the way that the index finger lays over the top and down onto the “shank” very closely approximates tamping with one’s finger. I’ll have a photograph of this when my “hand model” stops back here from Myrtle Beach on his way back home to Houston.
The truth is, as I said to my French speaking friend above, Hira allows me to basically carve pipes without carving pipes. They are “non-pipes” that are tampers. I’m free to explore shapes without concern for smoking quality, smoke chambers and airways. Of course the shank portion of the piece must still fit into the bowl as a tamper, but that still leaves me almost unlimited freedom to translate the bazillion shapes in my head into briar reality. And best yet, these tampers are amazingly functional to a degree that I never expected would be the case. Whether they will catch on remains to be scene, but one way or the other they will be made.
Hira3 should be carved by the end of the day (knock on wood). I will show photos of Hira2 when it is completed.
Fantastic … I’ll offer you $1 and a White Castle cheeseburger for that artistic wonderment known as Hira One.
Je suis journaliste, je m’intéresse aux pipes à tabac.
Merci !
Hello. Good to hear from you. Please stop by again. The tamper that you see above may not be a pipe, but it is very similar to one. The size is almost the same. I make these tampers so that I will not be tempted to make pipes!!
Hello Newbs. I’m afraid that I must decline your generous offer of White Castles (I had Krystals yesterday) as both Hira1 and Hira2 are spoken for. Hira1 will remain with me as the first of its kind. Hira2 has sold based upon in-progress photos with a price range of $450 to $525. The grain on Hira2 is to die for. The best part is that Hiras feel wonderful in the palm (“palm” is “hira” in Japanese) and the way that the index finger lays over the top and down onto the “shank” very closely approximates tamping with one’s finger. I’ll have a photograph of this when my “hand model” stops back here from Myrtle Beach on his way back home to Houston.
The truth is, as I said to my French speaking friend above, Hira allows me to basically carve pipes without carving pipes. They are “non-pipes” that are tampers. I’m free to explore shapes without concern for smoking quality, smoke chambers and airways. Of course the shank portion of the piece must still fit into the bowl as a tamper, but that still leaves me almost unlimited freedom to translate the bazillion shapes in my head into briar reality. And best yet, these tampers are amazingly functional to a degree that I never expected would be the case. Whether they will catch on remains to be scene, but one way or the other they will be made.
Hira3 should be carved by the end of the day (knock on wood). I will show photos of Hira2 when it is completed.