PLEASE NOTE ...

The pages I post here represent working notes rather than completed essays and I ask that you treat them with discretion and forbearance.  In particular, please do not quote any opinions I express here as in any way definitive;  my conclusions are tentative and subject to considerable revision.  I welcome your comments or suggestions.

From the author ...

In all my commentaries, my goal is to wonder about or to suggest new possibilities for seeing beauty in pipes, not to criticize or put down traditional ways of looking at briar.

Personally, I continue to get a big kick out of a classic pipe, expertly shaped and covered with startlingly-vivid grain.  The aesthetic standards of the past fifty years have produced wonderful briars and these traditions are woven deeply into the imaginations of the most creative contemporary pipe-makers.

In my writing and photography, I wish only to propose additional ways that we might respond to and enjoy briar carvings and briar carvers.  I think we can continue to honor and to appreciate established definitions of beauty even as we also begin learning about new aesthetic sensibilities and finding delight in their unexpected pleasures.

Thomas Looker

Student of Pipes