Joe Hinkle

Joe Hinkle is a contemporary American pipemaker working in Indiana. He learned his craft not through a workshop tradition but through his own trial and error, later joining the Briarlab workshop in Indianapolis to pursue the work full time. His output falls under two headings: the classically styled Icon line and the more freely designed Marquee.

From Amateur to Workshop

Hinkle's first contact with the craft was a trial pipe made from a ready-made stummel kit; he bought the kit and vulcanite rod from Tim West, and finished the work with sandpaper, a file, and a power drill. Quickly recognizing the limits of this simple setup, he acquired a wood lathe and began working more methodically. Records indicate that he made about sixty pipes for people around him during this early period, then began supplying a few online retailers with his work.

The turning point came when he met the pipemaker Nate King at the NASPC pipe show held in Columbus. Since both lived in Indiana, the connection was easy to form; Hinkle began using King's workshop to sandblast his own pipes. This gave him his first chance to learn directly by observation and hands-on practice alongside another maker, and he spent much of his free time at that bench honing his shaping skills.