No Nonsense.
Sunday, September 16, 2012 at 11:51AM | Neill Archer Roan | Permalink tagged Jack Howell | in Artisan, Artisanal Pipes, Commissioning 
I recently received the above-depicted bamboo 283 shape from Jack Howell – a pipe I asked Jack to make for me some fifteen months ago when he was working on last year’s Passion for Pipes 283 project. I fell in love with the chubby Rhodesian shape, and being a devotée of bamboo pipes, I could easily imagine that I would appreciate a bamboo version. I was correct; I love it.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the best possible products in any category - pipes included - result from long-term, trusting relationships where the buyer and the seller come to really know each others’ skills, tastes, and preferences. The esteemed loyalty guru, Fred Reichheld, asserts that superior value creation happens when long-term customers and long-term employees conspire together.
Over the years, I’ve commissioned and bought quite a few pipes from Jack. Each collaboration has occasioned in-depth conversations between us wherein strengths and weaknesses of each piece are bandied about. While there is rarely anything about one of Jack’s pipes I dislike, there are some I love more than others. Jack has probably heard and remembered those beloved attributes because as our relationship has lengthened and deepened, the pipes have gotten better and better. I believe that Jack knows better what I want than I do at this point. Somehow, he manages to deliver. With this pipe, he really rang the bell.
When I first pulled this pipe from its leather sock and looked it over, I felt like I’d always owned it. It’s slightly wider mouthpiece and slightly higher button-profile endow the pipe with a bespoke quality. This is how I like them. The detailed, yet still gnarly, sandblast give it a pre-War feel. The large diameter bamboo says “stout.”
I smoked this pipe just minutes after I first handled it. That it would and has smoked wonderfully is no surprise. All Jack’s pipes smoke well, having similar smoking qualities. I haven’t taken it out of my rotation yet, and do not plan to, since I like how it smokes. I want to thoroughly break it in. It is absolutely my pipe, and that “my pipe-ness” lends a certain beloved quality to it.
Pear by Jack HowellI’ve pondered why I have become so attached to all my Howells. I have concluded that while each pipe reminds me of our good friendship, there is also Jack’s expressed knowledge of what I like in every pipe he makes for me. Such satisfaction cannot be engineered without experience nor without feedback leading to knowledge.
Acorn by Jack HowellSo, if you want to have great pipes made for you, understand that this is most likely to happen in the context of a relationship that is enriched by time, experimentation, patience, and conversation. There is no nonsense in this. It is like the great old bootmaker who considers every contour, every knob, and every callus of his customer’s feet when he crafts boots for them. This knowledge won’t come overnight. Nor will the perfect fit which is as much an artifact of affection as it is of skill.
We all think we know what we like. It is remarkable, indeed, to experience an artisan or craftsman acquiring deep knowledge about what satisfies or moves us to later express that knowledge in design and craftsmanship.
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