American Smoking Pipe Co.: Difference between revisions

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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.

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Change is the one constant you can count in life .Curt had carved out a life for himself. He got married and bought his own house in 1986 and learned kayaking which he is expert at today. In 1990 when I wanted to expand our business, hire employees etc. He decided he wanted to do other things with his life. In my opinion he was the premier pipe maker in the country; he had been making pipes for 20 years at this point and was ready for something new. I was surprised to say the least, but as we had been friends since the 7 th grade this was more important than our business partnership. We amicably settled our business, I retaining sole proprietorship of American Smoking Pipe Co.

Soon thereafter, I divorced . It was a rough year. I set up shop in a friends storage shed. It was 12x20' and large enough for two people to work in. She came to work for me as a polisher and I was soon back in business again. I guess I too was looking for a change and I incorporated pipe repair into my work for the first time. Unfortunately, this alienated a couple friends of mine on the East coast who were pipe repairmen who didn't like this encroachment. One, Howard Shulte, still isn't speaking to me today, as John Hayes went with me instead of him. I enjoyed learning pipe repair. Its a lot different than pipe making. Some of its mundane, of course, but there are a lot of interesting problem solving opportunities that I find challenging. As it turns out this was a wise decision.

For whatever reasons the bottom of the new pipe market dropped out after 1992. We experienced a recession, anti-smoking laws stiffened, and the older pipe smoking generation was passing on and nothing was taking its place. Pipe smokers continued to smoke and need repair. They were able to smoke in fewer places and there collections became concentrated at home. They just didn't need as many pipes. Gray marketing, inflated prices by the big pipe companies also hurt new pipe sales. The interest in the used market was market was peaking as large estate collections were becoming available. Being able to smoke in fewer areas concentrated pipe smokers collections at home. Smokers didn't feel the need for new pipes as they no longer could be spread around their various habitats.

=== The Present ===

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.

   

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''Chip states "I asked for two stems: one regular and one a little larger 41/2".  Instead, I received a cumberland straight tenon military type curved bit wherein the removable shank extension with the star emblem stays in place and the stem itself removes and the churchwarden stem is then inserted. I purchased the dark blue lucite stem, from Mark Tinsky, afterwards. It looks deep black."''

=== Addendum ===

*You may also enjoy listening to Brian Levine's interview with Mark on the [http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/radio-talk-show/the-pipes-magazine-radio-show-episode-213/ The Pipes Mazazine Radio Show]