Roush (Larry Roush)

Roush is the brand of handmade briar pipes American maker Larry Roush produces under his own name. Working alone in his Ohio workshop, Roush combined a background in jewelry-making with pipemaking; his craftsmanship, joining wood with silver and gold, makes him one of the recognized names of the American handmade pipe scene.

From Collecting to the Workshop

Roush came to pipemaking from jewelry-making. Knowing how to work silver and gold through his trade, he first fitted the pipes he collected with bands made by his own hand — not moulded rings but patterned pieces requiring jeweler's tools. This craftsmanship caught the attention of American maker Michael Butera, whom he met around the same years, and the relationship between the two first turned into a business partnership, then into something resembling an apprenticeship. The guidance Roush received from Butera in his early years is counted, both in the maker's own promotional material and in the pipe press of the time, among the factors that shaped his work.