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The American way of learning?

Tyler Beard's pipes (they're called Tyler Lanes) are on the threshold to America's top echelon, if respected dealers and collectors are to be believed. Like several compatriots, he is a part-timer, actually earning his living as a pastor.

Tyler says that Trever Talbert, Brian Ruthenberg, Andy Ogura, Todd Johnson, Bill Weist, Cornelius Mänz and Michael Lindner have been especially helpful with advice during his quest from improvement. In this interview, he discusses the problems and rewards of 'hobby' carving and explores the question whether a non-professional can make it to the very top.

Some part-time carvers reach a very high level of proficiency in the US, though guidance is even harder to find than in Europe. How do they go about improving their technique?

TB: Because of the varied paths to, and through, pipe making for American carvers, I can only speak for myself. I assume though, that there are at least some aspects of the learning process that we all share in common.

When I hear stories from great European carvers about having to do repairs for a year before being allowed to even attempt making a pipe, or stories about moving up through the ranks at a factory learning one stage of pipe making at a time, I cannot relate to that process. Pipe making, and even smoking, is not common in the US. Pipe making in the US is not something one might normally consider for a career. As such, most pipe makers in the US come into the craft as a hobby, myself included. The process for learning pipe making for me was to order a kit and try to shape it into something that looked like a pipe. I did, and I enjoyed it. I decided to take the steps necessary for making the complete product. I basically learned all the processes at once. The learning curve is steep. In order to learn to climb that curve I would experiment and talk to other carvers both by e-mail and phone, I would read web sites, and I would read any articles or books I could get my hands on. Improvement at that stage was very rapid, with actually performing the tasks being the key learning component.

Improving now - being on a much flatter portion of the learning curve - comes with the combination of seeing more and more detail in pipes and talking to carvers about those details. Then practicing for a few months the new techniques and ideas I have picked up, and making sure that the new details I have noticed become a part of all of my pipes.

Of course it would be very nice to spend a considerable amount of time in the shop of a master, but I don't have that luxury. Perhaps this has its advantages though. Jess Chonowitsch tells the story of being taught to make pipes by Poul Rasmussen, and says that Rasmussen would tell him the shape of the pipe Jess was making was wrong. Rasmussen would take Jess's pipe to the sanding disc and improve the shape, but he wouldn't let Jess see how he did it. He would only show him the improved shape. That is very similar to the way that I have learned to make pipes. Though I don't have anyone to take the pipe I am currently working on and improve it, I see photos and go to shops and shows, and see examples of beautiful and well-made pipes. No one is showing me how they got the pipe to that point, but I can see that the pipe is superior and I study the pipe to ascertain why. I then apply what I've learned to my own work.

Feedback on my work from others is also very helpful in the learning process. I have sent pipes to knowledgeable collectors and asked for their honest thoughts and opinions. I have gotten some invaluable feedback from that process. I have had other carvers look my work over and give me feedback. This type of feedback is incredibly helpful as well. Many times, the carver will even give you a tip on how to perform the suggested improvement.

This reminds me of asking Tom Eltang to look over my pipes at this year's Chicago show. I had made that request of him the day before the show. He had never seen anything I had made. When I made the request he asked me a very wise and important question. Though he asked it in a partially joking way, he was definitely in need of an honest answer. The question was, "Do you want me to tell the truth about your pipes, or be polite?" (I am glad he asked me this before seeing my pipes…it would not have been as easy to ask him for the truth if he had asked this while looking at my pipes!) Hearing the truth about one's pipes is one of the most important parts of the learning process.

Are part-timers to be trusted from the point of view of the 'investment conscious' collector? Isn't there a large risk of an amateur drifting away from carving?

TB: Yes, a new carver is more of a risk. If you are buying pipes from a new maker for investment purposes, it is very speculative. Certainly everyone is hoping to buy something from the next Bo, Jess, or Lars while his pipes are still relatively inexpensive, but odds are that won't happen. We are now in a time when there are a lot of relatively new pipe makers. Likely, ten or twenty years from now most of them will not still be making pipes.

By 'investment conscious collector' I assume though, that you don't really mean someone buying a pipe as an investment. I assume you mean someone that requires that the resale value of a pipe is relatively predictable, and that one can resell the pipe for an 'acceptable' percentage of the original price. Unfortunately, this is next to impossible for a new carver. Therefore, new carvers are a risk. Even if the carver becomes one of the greats, you better be willing to hold onto one of his pieces until he becomes great. If you buy a new maker's pipe, then decide next week that you need extra money, selling the pipe made by the new guy isn't going to be the way to raise cash. Until a carver is established and his work sought after, the resale value of estate pieces by that carver will be low. Let's be honest. The 'investment conscious collector' is not a match for buying the work of a relatively new carver, at least, not beyond a certain personal price point. Of course, this price point is different for different people. There is a price low enough for all of us that the risk is so minimized as not to be a factor. If a new carver charges $10 for a pipe, anyone can take that risk. It is for pipes with prices upwards of $300, $400, $500+ that a new carver really starts to cause hesitation in most buyers. Only a small fraction of the pipe community is willing to take that kind of risk on a new guy, and it is most definitely a risk.

Mark Tinsky recently told Pfeifenbox that many of today's newcomers lack the timesaving skills to be really efficient - hence their prices. Can you comment on that?

TB: I'm sure there are very few carvers in the US that are as efficient at pipe making as Mark Tinsky. Likewise, I am sure he is correct that many of today's newcomers could improve in efficiency; certainly I know that to be true about me! However, speaking for myself, time is not really a factor in my prices. I am well aware of my inefficiency, and I am certainly not going to charge for it.

In this conversation I think it is important to recognize the difference between a hobbyist carver and a bread-winning carver. For the bread-winning carver hours are much more of a consideration because he cannot work all day long and only come home with $5 with which to feed his family. On the other hand, a hobbyist can spend a month on a pipe with much less regard for the return on the time spent because his family is not relying on that income. It is quite a luxury that the hobbyist does not have the pressure of the sale for survival, and as such is not required to factor time into his pricing.

One's goals in pipe making are also a major part of this conversation. I have taken a block of briar, and had a fully completed pipe 3 ½ hours later. While not the fastest time in the world (it was only my 10th or so pipe), that is a fraction of the time I usually spend. That pipe was a good pipe. However, making a good pipe is not my desire or goal in pipe making. I want to make pipes as perfectly as I can, even as perfectly as humanly possible. That is a very inefficient decision. If I wanted to make more money from pipes, a better route would be to make good pipes for a low price. I could make them very quickly and as a result make more money on an hourly basis. In fact, if I really wanted to make money I'd be even more efficient, go the factory route, and make pipes with machines. I don't want to do that though. I want to do more than make good pipes; I want to make great pipes. I want to make perfect pipes. I am chasing the non-attainable goal of perfection. And what a thrill that it is not attainable! I'll always have it to pursue!

Let me be clear that I am not at all claiming that the pursuit of making a perfect pipe is somehow more noble, or right, or good, than making good pipes at a low price. I am merely stating my preference for my pipe making. Likewise, I am not trying to defend or criticize anyone's particular price structure for their pipes. I can only speak for my own prices, and I will say that time is not a major factor in my prices.

Do amateur carvers have the time and resources they really need - for example, access to top briar, enough vacation for business trips etc.?

TB: I can say that I definitely wish I had more of all the things you list!

In all seriousness though, I believe the answer is yes, though it is certainly more of a challenge for hobbyist carvers, especially American hobbyist carvers. I do believe though, that hobbyist carvers have access to the resources necessary to make pipes of the highest calibre. This is largely a result of the Internet. Through e-mail I have several friends in Europe, a few of which are pipe makers. With their help I have access to materials I cannot imagine accessing even a few years ago. Furthermore, on a very regular basis, briar mills are putting up web pages. Though I cannot easily go to the coupier and select my own blocks, I can access very excellent wood. I just have to be willing to pay more for it and take the extra risks of not picking the most beautiful grain myself.

A related question: Can part-timers ever make enough pipes, the 'critical mass' needed to join the professionals in the world's elite?

TB: I don't know.

If you could define the world's elite by quality of work on a piece by piece basis, I would say yes. There are part-timers that can and will make pipes of the highest quality and beauty in the world.

As your question implies though, a body of work that demonstrates that the highest quality and beauty standards are reached consistently is a necessary part of the discussion. Can a part-timer produce enough pipes to have a body of work that demonstrates qualification for elite status? I don't know, largely because I don't know how many pipes need be made. If forced to make a guess, I would say that it is possible that we will one day see a hobbyist spoken of in the same breath as the rest of the world's elite.

Would you consider going full-time yourself?

TB: Yes, but I currently have no plans to do so.

Tyler's website: http://www.micrope.com/TylerLanePipes/

(November 16, 2003)

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