S.E. Thile Pipes

S.E. Thile Pipes is the handmade pipe brand Scott E. Thile produces at his own workshop in Murray, Kentucky, in the United States. Thile came to the bench late: his primary trade is piano tuning and technical work, and his second pursuit is playing bass.

After years of smoking a pipe, he warmed to the idea of carving his own in 2004, and the brand grew out of those first attempts. Thile is also the founder of Pipedia, one of the pipe world's most extensive online reference resources.

From Musician to Pipe Bench

Thile began his career as a piano technician in California, later moving to Kentucky to take a position as a musical-instrument technician at Murray State University. He has played bass since his youth and continues to do so professionally. He taught himself pipe making largely on his own, with feedback from fellow carvers on maker forums forming the main channel of that learning. In later years he spent time at the bench with Todd Johnson and Bruce Weaver, and counts Adam Davidson among those who influenced him; by his own account, Jeff Gracik and Brad Pohlmann belong on that list as well. He completed his first pipe under the name "Étude #1, The Piano Tuner's Pipe"; this naming, drawn from musical terms, later spread across the brand's entire classification scheme. For the broader picture of the American handmade pipe scene, see the Go West entry.