D. Mostras Pipes

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About

He created his first pipe - a Churchwarden model (Gandalf pipe) - in summer 2011 in his mountain village home, inspired by childhood memories of his grandfather, who used to enjoy smoking a pipe while sitting on the porch and gazing at the mountains. He still remembers the sweet smell of his smoke and how fascinated he used to be from his grandfather's pipe smoking ritual.

Studying CNC machine operation helped him a lot with the engineering and the tools he uses - he even created some on his own. He enjoys the wood working process while making smoking pipes, because it is challenging both from a technical as well as an aesthetic aspect. Handmade smoking pipes are not only pieces of creative and artistic work, but also a piece of the artist's soul, he says.

One of the things he like most about making smoking pipes is that he experiences living in the present moment, and therefore he enjoys each of the many stages in the procces of creating an artistic smoking instrument.

He would like to express himself through art, inspire and get inspired.

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Materials

For his pipe creations he uses exclusively Greek briar - and olive wood, because they are the most durable, tastier and purest types of wood for smoking pipes. The hand-cut stems (mouth-pieces) are made from German ebonite, acrylic and cumberland rods stock. The tenons are intergrated to the same stock as the stem, except some occasions when the design needs the tenon to be made by delrin or telfon. He uses a secret natural recipe oil for the finishing technique, in order to preserve the wood better. All of his pipes meet the required standards for pipe collectors.

Carving a pipe

There are more than 150 stages for making a smoking pipe, and he works with a lot of attention to detail, quality and precision in engineering in each one of them. Every single one of his pipes is a unique creation. He does not work on a particular pattern – he rather takes a look at the next piece of wood and visualises the finalised pipe that matches the particular wood grain better. Reading the grain of the wood is how the process begins, and the stage where he applies his individual artistic touch to.

Pipe Stamping

​ All of his pipes bare a stamp with his name and have an individual number that represents the year of manufacture (the first two digits) and the number of the pipe (the last two digits). For example the number 1501 would mean that this was the 1st pipe (01) created in the year 2015 (15).

The stamp also features letters that represent the pipe finishing:

  • S stands for smooth
  • R stands for rusticated
  • SR stands for semi-rusticated

Gallery

Contact Information

Website:  http://mostras-pipes.weebly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/D-Mostras-Handmade-Creations-1325230507572689/
E-Mail:   mailto:mostras@mail.com