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American Smoking Pipe Co.: Difference between revisions
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'''Mark Tinsky's [http://www.amsmoke.com/ American Smoking Pipe Co.]''' | '''Mark Tinsky's [http://www.amsmoke.com/ American Smoking Pipe Co.]''' | ||
In an article, called [[Go West]], which originally appeared in the French Pipe Mag, Erwin Van Hove has this to say about Mark Tinsky: "His more than reasonable prices, and his good-natured personality, have made Mark the favorite of many Americans. [[Image:marktinsky1.jpg|thumb|300px|P&T 2006 pipe, Sunrise]][[File:AmericanMarkTinsky.jpg|thumb|left|Nark Tinsky in his workshop, courtesy Doug Valitchka]]It is difficult to find an amateur who does not possess at least one pipe made by the American Smoking Pipe Company, that Tinsky founded in 1978 with his friend Curt Rollar. In 1990, after the departure of his associate, Tinsky continued on by himself building a solid reputation using quality briar from Greece and stem blanks imported from Italy, offering collectors a vast assortment of models and finishes. In short, his pipes are beautiful and well-made pieces that produce a taste beyond reproach. Neither off-the-shelf nor haute couture, they are solid hand mades for an affordable price. And by the way, it is Mark’s pleasure to carve the pipe of your dreams as he readily accepts commissions. Also noteworthy is a future changing of the guard of sorts, as his son Glenn has inherited his father’s talent, and, at the age of 16, is selling his own creations." | |||
== Mark Tinsky/ Pipe Maker (in his own words) == | == Mark Tinsky/ Pipe Maker (in his own words) == | ||
About the most frequently question asked of me, is, "how did you get into pipe making?" I usually plant my feet, make sure my bowl is lit, and say, "It's a long story, are you sure you want to hear it?" If the response is favorable I proceed. | About the most frequently question asked of me, is, "how did you get into pipe making?" I usually plant my feet, make sure my bowl is lit, and say, "It's a long story, are you sure you want to hear it?" If the response is favorable I proceed. | ||
Sometime late in high school a buddy of mine got a job cleaning briar for a neighbor pipe hobbyist named Jack Weinberger. He wasn't a good worker and was pretty soon fired. Another buddy and my future partner, Curt Rollar, immediately applied for the job and got it. At first all he did was clean the tops and sides of the briar so Jack could more easily read the grain of the wood. As Curt was a good worker he stayed on while he went to college and soon became a pipe maker himself as Jack turned his hobby into a business. All my friends envied Curt's cool job as we worked at various menial teenage jobs at the time. As we had a good source of pipes (the 2cds) we started smoking pipes. Curt eventually liked making pipes so much he took it up full time. | [[Image:65thtinsky.jpg|thumb|300px|Bent Apple by Mark Tinsky, Courtesy [http://www.smokershaven.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3748 Smokers Haven 65th Anniversary set]]][[Image:marktinsky2.jpg|thumb|300px|P&T 2006 pipe, Tanblast]] | ||
[[Image:marktinsky3.jpg|thumb|300px|Black and Tan Volcano]]Sometime late in high school a buddy of mine got a job cleaning briar for a neighbor pipe hobbyist named Jack Weinberger. He wasn't a good worker and was pretty soon fired. Another buddy and my future partner, Curt Rollar, immediately applied for the job and got it. At first all he did was clean the tops and sides of the briar so Jack could more easily read the grain of the wood. As Curt was a good worker he stayed on while he went to college and soon became a pipe maker himself as Jack turned his hobby into a business. All my friends envied Curt's cool job as we worked at various menial teenage jobs at the time. As we had a good source of pipes (the 2cds) we started smoking pipes. Curt eventually liked making pipes so much he took it up full time. | |||
Curt and I were avid bicyclists. We spent many summers touring the Eastern USA. Our dream, however, was to ride our bikes to Alaska. We lived in NJ. at the time. We accomplished this in 1974. I went back to school at Montclair State College, and Curt went back to work for Jack. Each summer after that we planned a major excursion. One year we rode to Nova Scotia. The following summer Curt hiked most of the Appalachian Trail before succumbing to a Giardia infection. I rode to the Gaspe Peninsula. These were only side trips, however as our new dream was to ride around the world. | Curt and I were avid bicyclists. We spent many summers touring the Eastern USA. Our dream, however, was to ride our bikes to Alaska. We lived in NJ. at the time. We accomplished this in 1974. I went back to school at Montclair State College, and Curt went back to work for Jack. Each summer after that we planned a major excursion. One year we rode to Nova Scotia. The following summer Curt hiked most of the Appalachian Trail before succumbing to a Giardia infection. I rode to the Gaspe Peninsula. These were only side trips, however as our new dream was to ride around the world. | ||
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== American Smoking Pipe Co./ The Early Days: == | == American Smoking Pipe Co./ The Early Days: == | ||
We returned full of hope for our new business. Hope, unfortunately, doesn't alone get you started making pipes. By this time my parents had moved to Fla., so I lived in my tent in Curt's backyard. I don't know what the neighbors' thought but as it was a beautiful fall, I was content. By this time Vic Steinhardt had separated from Jack and was running his own company. We worked for him in exchange for briar. Briar can take up to 4 months to received and up to a year to dry so we needed dry wood in order to begin. A few months after returning Curt's grandmother died, (1978). She had been living on a 50 acre rundown farm in Frenchtown, NJ. The family wanted us to live there, as caretakers, until they could sell the place. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth I moved from my tent to a large rambling farmhouse. What a neat place this was. Curt's grandfather had been in the egg business for a time and had put up many barns and coops that were now falling down. One of our jobs was to demolish these barns. We sold off the old barn board siding, the large oak beams, and used some of the lumber to refurbish a more modern tool shed where after installing a Franklin stove, we established our first shop. | [[File:AmericanCR01.jpg|thumb|An early example made by Curt Rollar, and the American Smoking Pipe Co. logo, courtesy Doug Valitchka]]We returned full of hope for our new business. Hope, unfortunately, doesn't alone get you started making pipes. By this time my parents had moved to Fla., so I lived in my tent in Curt's backyard. I don't know what the neighbors' thought but as it was a beautiful fall, I was content. By this time Vic Steinhardt had separated from Jack and was running his own company. We worked for him in exchange for briar. Briar can take up to 4 months to received and up to a year to dry so we needed dry wood in order to begin. A few months after returning Curt's grandmother died, (1978). She had been living on a 50 acre rundown farm in Frenchtown, NJ. The family wanted us to live there, as caretakers, until they could sell the place. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth I moved from my tent to a large rambling farmhouse. What a neat place this was. Curt's grandfather had been in the egg business for a time and had put up many barns and coops that were now falling down. One of our jobs was to demolish these barns. We sold off the old barn board siding, the large oak beams, and used some of the lumber to refurbish a more modern tool shed where after installing a Franklin stove, we established our first shop. | ||
With what money we had left from our trip we purchased a bandsaw and drill press from Sears and commissioned a machinist to make sanding discs and shafts to mount polishing wheels on. We used the lumber from the barns and old motors we found around the property to make tables and sanding and polishing set ups. It was a cold winter though. The tool shed was uninsulated and the stove inefficient. The farm house wasn't a lot better either! I guess we suffered a bit for our art that year. Some time that Spring our first wood order came in. We were so excited. Using the wood we had gotten from Vic, we had our first pipes ready for sale in July of 1979. Our first thought was to call on customers we knew from Jack's. Not many were as accepting as we expected. By then JHW was a name in pipe making and an easily salable pipe. By this time the quality had slipped as Jack had gone back to hiring high school students and he himself was incapable of making them himself. We found out that a recognizable name is a very important in selling pipes. | With what money we had left from our trip we purchased a bandsaw and drill press from Sears and commissioned a machinist to make sanding discs and shafts to mount polishing wheels on. We used the lumber from the barns and old motors we found around the property to make tables and sanding and polishing set ups. It was a cold winter though. The tool shed was uninsulated and the stove inefficient. The farm house wasn't a lot better either! I guess we suffered a bit for our art that year. Some time that Spring our first wood order came in. We were so excited. Using the wood we had gotten from Vic, we had our first pipes ready for sale in July of 1979. Our first thought was to call on customers we knew from Jack's. Not many were as accepting as we expected. By then JHW was a name in pipe making and an easily salable pipe. By this time the quality had slipped as Jack had gone back to hiring high school students and he himself was incapable of making them himself. We found out that a recognizable name is a very important in selling pipes. | ||
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The farm was sold in the end of 1979 and we needed to find a cheap place to live. We had always liked the Pocono's in Eastern Pa. It was also a real cheap place to live so we packed up the shop and moved to Saylorsburg, Pa. A bucolic village that the 20th century had seemed to leave behind. At least on weekends when we looked took the rental. We moved the entire shop in a van. In our next move it took 3 of the largest U Haul trucks. As I said Saylorsburg was real quiet on the weekends, but the following Monday we found out there was a quarry located down the road . When the bog trucks rolled by our little house shook. Our shop though was inside the house in a large basement. This was a real step up in the world for us. It had a two car garage for storage and only cost $240 per month. To supplement my income I opened a karate school at the local YMCA, where I still teach today. In Saylorsburg there were few distractions and we settled down to produce a large volume of pipe making. Our business flourished and by 1982 we had saved up enough money t buy our own house. Its main attraction was a large new shop in back of the house. We moved in October of 1982. This was also the year our mentor, Jack Weinberger died. | The farm was sold in the end of 1979 and we needed to find a cheap place to live. We had always liked the Pocono's in Eastern Pa. It was also a real cheap place to live so we packed up the shop and moved to Saylorsburg, Pa. A bucolic village that the 20th century had seemed to leave behind. At least on weekends when we looked took the rental. We moved the entire shop in a van. In our next move it took 3 of the largest U Haul trucks. As I said Saylorsburg was real quiet on the weekends, but the following Monday we found out there was a quarry located down the road . When the bog trucks rolled by our little house shook. Our shop though was inside the house in a large basement. This was a real step up in the world for us. It had a two car garage for storage and only cost $240 per month. To supplement my income I opened a karate school at the local YMCA, where I still teach today. In Saylorsburg there were few distractions and we settled down to produce a large volume of pipe making. Our business flourished and by 1982 we had saved up enough money t buy our own house. Its main attraction was a large new shop in back of the house. We moved in October of 1982. This was also the year our mentor, Jack Weinberger died. | ||
<center><gallery perrow=3 widths=200px heights=150px caption="Several American Smoking Pipe examples, details, and nomenclature courtesy Doug Valitchka"> | |||
File:American01.jpg | |||
File:American07.jpg | |||
File:American09.jpg | |||
File:AmericanFreehand01.jpg | |||
File:AmericanFreehand07.jpg | |||
File:AmericanHex01.jpg | |||
File:AmericanHex11.jpg | |||
File:AmericanMT09.jpg | |||
File:AmericanMT10.jpg | |||
</gallery></center> | |||
=== More Recent History === | |||
The story of pipe making in the 80's is a story in its self deserving of a fuller treatment than I can give here. I will address this subject more completely in later writings. There are many stories, many personalities, and a whole era to recapture. For me this was a happy time. I got married had a child. Had time to pursue personal interests after concentrating solely on the business for so many years. We were accepted by the Pipe World in general. We made various club pipes for PCI magazine. We were in many retail catalogs. I went to Europe to buy briar and stems directly. Things were going well and we enjoyed the recognition and fruits of our success. | The story of pipe making in the 80's is a story in its self deserving of a fuller treatment than I can give here. I will address this subject more completely in later writings. There are many stories, many personalities, and a whole era to recapture. For me this was a happy time. I got married had a child. Had time to pursue personal interests after concentrating solely on the business for so many years. We were accepted by the Pipe World in general. We made various club pipes for PCI magazine. We were in many retail catalogs. I went to Europe to buy briar and stems directly. Things were going well and we enjoyed the recognition and fruits of our success. | ||
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My current interests include fly fishing, reading, and writing about pipes over the Internet via Alternate Smokers Pipes newsgroup and Pipe Digest. I see a great future in this new form of communication and it has begun to change the way I'm doing business already. I can now deal directly with customers as I could never do before. I've met many interesting people who have used computer programs to design pipes. I plan to straddle the line between retailers and direct sales by protecting a retailers local territory. Its a big country and now with the Internet, a big world! I'm sure there's room enough for me to do business without upsetting too many people. I plan to do further writings about people, stories, and experiences I've had in the pipe industry. I've collected some of my writings on pipes in a section called Musings from the workbench. If you're interested, please look for further updates. Time for a new bowl of tobacco. | My current interests include fly fishing, reading, and writing about pipes over the Internet via Alternate Smokers Pipes newsgroup and Pipe Digest. I see a great future in this new form of communication and it has begun to change the way I'm doing business already. I can now deal directly with customers as I could never do before. I've met many interesting people who have used computer programs to design pipes. I plan to straddle the line between retailers and direct sales by protecting a retailers local territory. Its a big country and now with the Internet, a big world! I'm sure there's room enough for me to do business without upsetting too many people. I plan to do further writings about people, stories, and experiences I've had in the pipe industry. I've collected some of my writings on pipes in a section called Musings from the workbench. If you're interested, please look for further updates. Time for a new bowl of tobacco. | ||
<center><gallery caption="Capital District Pipe Club's 2009 Pipe of the Year (Sunrise Finish), Courtesy Chip Fadeley"> | <center><gallery widths=185px caption="Capital District Pipe Club's 2009 Pipe of the Year (Sunrise Finish), Courtesy Chip Fadeley"> | ||
File:TInsky Poker3.jpg | File:TInsky Poker3.jpg | ||
File:TInsky Poker.jpg | File:TInsky Poker.jpg | ||