Pipe Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide (Hardcover)

by David Wright (Author) "In Eastern North America, the earliest pipes date from the middle Woodland period-about 500 B.C. to 500 A.D..." (more)
Key Phrases: plateau briar, briar blocks, figural pipes, United States, Lars Ivarsson, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A perfect gift for pipe smokers (and anyone with a penchant for the occasional puff), The Pipe Companion details the origins, history, and customs of pipe smoking. This new addition to our critically acclaimed series of connoisseur's companions includes nearly 125 full-color photographs highlighting the work of more than 50 master pipe carvers from around the world. It also features information on how to choose, smoke, and care for your pipe, as well as a glossary of terms and addresses of pipe makers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (December 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762403233
• ISBN-13: 978-0762403233
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,163 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #26 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Fun with Paper & Wood, Stones & Knives
  #100 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Sculpture

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My First Review, February 4, 2001

By	Howard L. Sheppard (Detroit area, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found this book to be a rather nice departure from the "standard" pipe tome. There was not the prerequisite history of tobacco and Sir Walter Raleigh's life story.

Instead, there is an enjoyable, concise background section along with a chapter on "how to smoke a pipe" that was equally pointed and factual. The book seemed nicely non-biased and simply presented known facts about a given carver or company along with clear glossy photos (albiet of the most expensive examples) of that nameplate complete with price ranges.

It is a quick read, but also a nice reference work that I have already found helpful as a quick "go to guide." It is a keeper in my small, but ever expanding library of pipe related printed media.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best source, so far!, April 8, 2002

By	"merlin87" (Union Grove, AL United States) - See all my reviews

I have a number of pipe books and this is by far the best I have read. It has info on how each company prepares the briar as well as how they make their pipes. If I were to have to keep but one pipe book, this is the one I would choose!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whats there is great, but I wanted even more., March 15, 2001

By A Customer

This is an informative and beautifully printed and illustrated book. Looking at the beautiful glossy photographs and reading the distinctive text is a delight, particularly when it is accompanied by smoking one of the fine pipes made by the carver you're reading about. However, I did wish that the book were comprehensive enough to fully live up to its subtitle of "A Connoisseur's Guide." I realize that to have included more the talented individuals and companies in Italy (e.g., Ascorti, Caminetto, Viprati, Tombari, Cavicchi,), Denmark (e.g., Former, Karl-Erik ), England (e, g., Charatan, Upshall), Austria (e.g., Matzhold), France (Comoy), Germany (Barbi, Becker, Mummert, Safferling) and elsewhere that are also handcrafting "high end" pipes would have made the book more expensive, but what a treasure it would have been. And given this book's subtitle, why spend precious pages describing Dr. Grabow, a company whose yearly production of machined pipes far exceeds the total output of all the artisans that are included in the book? If a subsequent edition is planned, I hope the author also thinks about consistently making his price ranges even more meaningful to the serious buyer by matching them up with the grading systems used by each carver. Even if this is not done in the text, an appendix just giving the grading systems would be most helpful.