J&J Pipes

J&J Pipes is the name two Californian masters, John Klose and Jared Coles, gave to the pipes they made in their shared workshop. What distinguished the brand was not a family of models or a technical innovation but the working system they adopted: a pipe was not considered finished until both of them had approved the result. The two letters in the brand name likewise stood for the founders' names, and so for this dual check.

The Two Masters' Paths

Klose spent part of his childhood in New Mexico before moving with his family to the foothills between Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. During his college years he worked at a camp near Yosemite; hand skills such as woodworking, leatherwork, and repair developed during this period. Coles, meanwhile, grew up among the orange groves of the San Joaquin Valley, was homeschooled through high school, and studied economics. According to records, his first attempts at pipe making also date to these college years.

The pair's path took clearer shape when they met Jeff Gracik, a master working in Southern California. Coles got the chance to see firsthand how a top-tier pipe is made, and shared what he learned with Klose once he returned to the Central Sierra. According to sources, the two began learning together in 2009, set up their own workshop in 2011, and continued production under the J&J name. Gracik's guidance is considered the foundation of the technical discipline visible in both masters' later independent work.