Irish clay pipes

[kzm007]

I'm currently attempting to re-embrace my Irish heritage, or maybe fully embrace it for the first time, depending on one's outlook

Anyway, I'm hoping to find a clay pipe, preferably made in Ireland? The one site I saw, and I forget the name, had some high prices; I'm in the US, I want to avoid the VAT and high prices.

Anyone who can help me in any way will have my eternal friendship, love, and a ring gauge boost! Thank you all in advance.

[tzaddi]

Why not just buy a Peterson out of Dublin, many to choose from and you don't have to worry about burning your hands I hear those clay bowls can get pretty warm.

And of course you know about these guys.

www.sharrowmills.com/ clay_pipes.html

Good luck on your quest young squire

[andrew]

The only ones I've found are made in Manchester or Belgium. I'd just stick to Irish tobacco if you dont mind shelling out.

[kzm007]

Well, I liked the Petersons but I saw the thread for them http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthread.php?t=207747 and am a little wary.

I also heard that clay was good for 'pure' tobacco flavor, and just plain looked nice.

I'm going to browse Peterson a bit, but they're also kind of pricey for a newbie.

I've bought a corncob, I'm just prepping for the inevitable future in this hobby now.

Appreciate the links though, thank you.

[kzm007]

Originally Posted by andrew

The only ones I've found are made in Manchester or Belgium. I'd just stick to Irish tobacco if you dont mind shelling out.

Same with me, thanks for the tip though .

[Mad Hatter]

Maybe you can check out ebay.uk

[egontheviking]

In my research on clay pipes and the makings of, I have discovered some information one needs when he is on the hunt for a good one. I can't quite remember if I discovered this on the forums or from perusing the net; but, I found that clay pipes are made one of two ways. The one to be wary of is the slip cast clay pipe. This is where the maker creates a mold for the pipes and pours liquid clay, aka slip, into mold and then lets dry to then fire in a kiln. This pipe will look darn near perfect except for the mold lines that run all along the top and bottom from the mouth piece to the bowl. I can tell you from experience with working with clay, this is going to be a vary fragile pipe. When clay is liquefied like this and then hardened, it makes for a brittle piece of clay that will not hold up to much use at all.

Then we have the other way to create a pipe where the clay is all one piece that involves no flimsy slip. This involves hand rolling the clay out into a coil with a knob of clay on one end. Then the maker runs a thin metal bar down the coil from the narrow end down to the knob. He then places the soon to be pipe into a fitted press to set the final shape of the pipe and to also create the bowl of the pipe. This would be the best possible pipe and I have tried to attempt this myself with some McGyver style tools but to no avail it is harder than it sounds or looks. check out this video, I found it to be pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G3nuBgnSDI

[kzm007]

Hatter- I will, but as I said, international pricing is naturally high, and the shipping can often be just as much.

Egon- I appreciate the post, and will happily check out the video. I love watching these 'how-to' films.

Thank you both for the assistance.

[Mad Hatter]

I've ordered items on Ebay from all over Europe and except for shipping times it wasn't any different than buying from a US seller. Buying from Asia is a much different matter.

[kzm007]

I'm going to look right now. I've never order from Asia - I've done it for certain electronics, but I'd be wary to stick anything in my mouth coming three weeks overseas, at least from Hong Kong.

Anyway, I meant that shipping usually appears to be 2-3x higher for me if it's in GBP, that's all.

Edit: Found one here http://www.quinncrafts.com/shop/details-10085.html for about $27 shipped. Guess I'm getting cheap, because that seems high, but if I'm smoking it, I don't want to pay for the nice display box and all that, I just wanted a small pipe lol.

I'll probably just deal with a corncob and then jump on a Peterson; even for decoration if I don't care for this hobby, they look amazing.