It’s all over but for the pre-carbonization process. Basically it’s a carbon-filled recipe that I paint on the inside of the bowl to give it that carbon cake normally present in well-smoked, broken-in pipes. This eliminates that break-in period and provides a good smoke from the first bowl.

I know there’s at least ten orders for these pipes and there could be as many as twenty. I think I may do them one at a time from now on. I hoped that by doing four or five at once I would cut down on the production time but it gets to be rather long and repetitive that way.

Anyway, I’ll take a short break over the weekend to work on a commission pipe that I’d like to have done by Christmas and then jump back in to Pipe of the Year again on Monday.

Stay tuned here for more updates.