Eric Weaver (SeaSmoke Pipes)

Eric Weaver is a pipe maker who works alone in the town of Washburn, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior, in the United States. His pipes carry the name SeaSmoke; since pottery is also made under the same roof, the workshop is known by the name "SeaSmoke Pipes and Pottery." It is counted among the benches where every stage, from design to final polish, is carried out by a single hand, with no apprentice or assistant.

The Bench and Scale of Production

Weaver's annual output is, by record, roughly 40 to 65 pipes. This scale, typical for a one-person workshop, allows time for each piece individually and, unlike mass production, keeps any two pipes from being copies of one another. Most of the output is in freehand shapes: forms developed freely by reading the grain of the block, not tied to a predetermined mold. Alongside these, classic shapes such as billiards and bulldogs are also made, reworked in the maker's own interpretation.

The briar blocks the craftsman works with come, by record, from Italy, Algeria, and Greece — three regions among the most commonly used supply lines in contemporary handmade pipe making. Two separate paths are followed for stems. Where the piece calls for it, high-grade German ebonite is bought in rod form and hand-cut; in other cases, ready-cast vulkanite blanks are reshaped by hand. The tendency of small workshops to favor ebonite among stem materials is explained by the material's suitability for hand-finishing.