Ron Powell (RDPipes)

Ron Powell is an American hand maker who produces pipes under the signature RDPipes. The signature arises from the maker's initials, R.D., merging with the word "pipes" on a shared "P"; in the community it is most often read as "RD Pipes." This name became the identity of roughly a decade of limited but shape- and material-varied production. Powell arrived at the bench not through a classic apprenticeship but through collecting and then repair, in that order.

The Road to the Bench

By the maker's own account, more than twenty years of local and long-haul trucking left him with lasting back problems, which prevented him from continuing his old interest in handwork with heavy materials. The pipe stands out within this constraint as an object light enough to work with: first came collecting, then the repair of worn pipes. According to Powell's account, he joined an online discussion forum for pipe makers in 2013, completed his first pipe using knowledge gathered from posts there, and made production a lasting pursuit. Such late, self-directed beginnings are a typical result of the online flow of information that has made possible the worldwide spread of briar makers.