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Reum pipes: Difference between revisions
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Sean Reum (IPA: ʃɔːn riːm; 1990 ‒) is a North American pipe maker who was born in Central Valley, California, and currently resides in Northwest Montana with his wife and son. | Sean Reum (IPA: ʃɔːn riːm; English '''Reem''<nowiki/>'; 1990 ‒) is a North American pipe maker who was born in Central Valley, California, and currently resides in Northwest Montana with his wife and son.<ref>Factual information for this article was provided to the author by Sean Reum. The remaining commentary is provided by the author. </ref> | ||
[[File:SeanReum Stamp.jpg|thumb|Nomenclature]] | [[File:SeanReum Stamp.jpg|thumb|Nomenclature]] | ||
Before making pipes, Reum was a restorer of vintage straight razors, which by chance led him to pipe smoking. As may be expected, there is a large degree of overlap between the pipe smoking and straight razor communities. Like smoking pipes, straight razors have a nostalgic quality to them, and have a strong appeal with collectors. But, perhaps more significantly, both smoking pipes and straight razors are precisely constructed instruments that, with the appropriate amount of care and upkeep, will reward their users with several lifetimes worth of service. | Before making pipes, Reum was a restorer of vintage straight razors, which by chance led him to pipe smoking. As may be expected, there is a large degree of overlap between the pipe smoking and straight razor communities. Like smoking pipes, straight razors have a nostalgic quality to them, and have a strong appeal with collectors. But, perhaps more significantly, both smoking pipes and straight razors are precisely constructed instruments that, with the appropriate amount of care and upkeep, will reward their users with several lifetimes worth of service. | ||
Owing to his interactions on a straight razor forum with users that also smoked pipes, Reum became fascinated with the pastime, and soon bought his own pipe, along with some samples, so that he could try it for himself. After spending time looking at various pipes online, this fascination quickly spread to the practices of their creation, and especially to the relationship between aesthetics and functionality in high-grade pipes. Reum consequently ordered hobby carving kits from American Pipe Company and Vermont Freehand with the hope of exploring, first-hand, “what it was that would make a beautiful pipe smoke so well.” | Owing to his interactions on a straight razor forum with users that also smoked pipes, Reum became fascinated with the pastime, and soon bought his own pipe, along with some samples, so that he could try it for himself. After spending time looking at various pipes online, this fascination quickly spread to the practices of their creation, and especially to the relationship between aesthetics and functionality in high-grade pipes. Reum consequently ordered hobby carving kits from [[Mark Tinsky|American Pipe Company]] and [[Norse|Vermont Freehand]] with the hope of exploring, first-hand, “what it was that would make a beautiful pipe smoke so well.” | ||
As he did not have conventional pipe making equipment at this point, Reum’s first experiments were undertaken in his workshop using some of the tools he would otherwise use for his restoration services. As he says in an interview with Brian Levine, in the beginning, the challenge was less one of deciding which tools to buy, but of “figuring out all that I could do without buying more.” | As he did not have conventional pipe making equipment at this point, Reum’s first experiments were undertaken in his workshop using some of the tools he would otherwise use for his restoration services. As he says in an interview with Brian Levine, in the beginning, the challenge was less one of deciding which tools to buy, but of “figuring out all that I could do without buying more.”<ref>https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/radio-talk-show/the-pipes-magazine-radio-show-episode-279/</ref> | ||
It would seem that this attitude of learning to work with – rather than trying to avoid – one’s constraints paid off for Reum. By developing techniques suited to the tools already at his disposal, and through furthering his pipemaking knowledge through online resources and interactions with other pipemakers, Reum was soon well on his way to creating the kinds of pipes that first drew him into the craft. While Reum’s first pipes were made in 2013, by 2017 he was able to take up pipemaking full-time. Since then, he has sold his pipes through Smoke King in the UK, TobaccoPipes and CupOJoes in the US, and independently. Reum also collaborates from time to time with Chris Morgan of Morgan Pipes, making the ‘Workshop Series’ of pipes sold on Morgan’s website. Together, the two also host the Beyond the Pipe podcast. | It would seem that this attitude of learning to work with – rather than trying to avoid – one’s constraints paid off for Reum. By developing techniques suited to the tools already at his disposal, and through furthering his pipemaking knowledge through online resources and interactions with other pipemakers, Reum was soon well on his way to creating the kinds of pipes that first drew him into the craft. While Reum’s first pipes were made in 2013, by 2017 he was able to take up pipemaking full-time. Since then, he has sold his pipes through Smoke King in the UK, TobaccoPipes and CupOJoes in the US, and independently. Reum also collaborates from time to time with Chris Morgan of [[Morgan Pipes]], making the ‘Workshop Series’ of pipes sold on Morgan’s website. Together, the two also host the Beyond the Pipe podcast.<ref>https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-the-pipe/id1580853346</ref> | ||
In terms of the making of a pipe, Reum is extraordinarily prolific. While he keeps the techniques that allow for this pipemaking agility close to his chest, his one-man operation often rivals the output one would expect from a Danish workshop, while still maintaining the level of quality one would expect from the latter. The Danish masters, along with the artisan pipemaking tradition that emerged from Denmark in the 1950s and 60s, are also a source of inspiration for Reum’s designs, which can already be seen in his early use of flared stems, unconventional bowl/shank pairings, and ferrules of horn and ebonite. Modern classics of post-Danish artisan pipemaking continue to feature among his creations; the shield, the egg, the acorn, and the flattened bulldog, are among the many archetypal shapes that Reum interprets in his own ways. With that said, Reum, like many artisans, allows the briar itself to dictate to a large degree exactly how it will be shaped and finished, in order to make the best use of the contours and patterns in the grain of a given block. | In terms of the making of a pipe, Reum is extraordinarily prolific. While he keeps the techniques that allow for this pipemaking agility close to his chest, his one-man operation often rivals the output one would expect from a Danish workshop, while still maintaining the level of quality one would expect from the latter. The Danish masters, along with the artisan pipemaking tradition that emerged from Denmark in the 1950s and 60s, are also a source of inspiration for Reum’s designs, which can already be seen in his early use of flared stems, unconventional bowl/shank pairings, and ferrules of horn and ebonite. Modern classics of post-Danish artisan pipemaking continue to feature among his creations; the shield, the egg, the acorn, and the flattened bulldog, are among the many archetypal shapes that Reum interprets in his own ways. With that said, Reum, like many artisans, allows the briar itself to dictate to a large degree exactly how it will be shaped and finished, in order to make the best use of the contours and patterns in the grain of a given block. | ||