Bennie Joe Pipes: Difference between revisions

Wibowo was first brought to the craft by necessity. While he had been a pipe smoker for years, he did not have a large collection of pipes, and when his workhorse pipe – an old, estate Peterson he had bought at an antiques store – suffered an irreparable burnout, Wibowo was forced to find a new one for his regular rotation. [ask Bennie Joe about the price of pipes in Indonesia] Finding that it would be less expensive to make a pipe himself than to buy a replacement, Wibowo decided to do just that, and spent the next eighteen months researching what he would need in order to make one.

Once he felt confident enough to begin making his pipes, Wibowo purchased seven ebauchon briar blocks with the intention of crafting simple billiards from them. After three months he was left with three billiards and, in his words, four ‘failures.’ But he was not dissuaded, and was fortunate to find a Facebook group for local pipe makers, many of whom were happy to give advice and to answer questions about the craft. It was through this group that Wibowo met Abdul Karim, maker of [[Karim Pipes]], who provided further teaching regarding the tools and techniques of advanced pipe making.

When looking at his pipes, Wibowo’s list of pipe makers who have influenced him should come as no surprise. Along with his teacher, Karim, he admires figures such as [[Tom Eltang]], [[Tokutomi, Hiroyuki|Hiroyuki Tokutomi]], [[Bo Nordh]], and [[Mr. Pipes|Michail Revyagin]]. He likes rounded pipe shapes, such as the apple, the egg, or the tomato, in part due to their ergonomic properties, such as their comfort in the hand and their ability to dissipate heat. He also makes many of the shapes that anyone familiar with artisan pipes should recognize, such as the blowfish and the fugu. This familiarity does not deter Wibowo, and he likens the interpretation of canonical shapes by pipe makers to an old adage about cooking: even when following the same recipe, every cook creates a different dish.  

There is, however, something more significant that separates Wibowo from his influences, and which separates his interpretation of shapes in the pipe making canon from those of many others – that being how Bennie Joe pipes are made. Because Wibowo does not – at present – own a lathe, a bench drill, or a belt sander, his pipe making is a decidedly ‘low tech’ affair. While he does own an electric hand drill and hand grinder, the remainder of Wibowo’s pipe making is carried out using basic tools such as files and sandpaper. The reasoning behind this approach is more economical than philosophical – dedicated woodworking machinery is expensive, especially in certain parts of the world – but the results should give hope to other aspiring pipe makers who worry about making such investments.  

[[File:Bennie Joe Chicago Pipe Show.jpg|thumb|A stall for Bennie Joe pipes from the 2023 Chicago Pipe Show. Image courtesy MBSD Pipes.]]