Talbert Pipes- Website update & news

[Trever Talbert]

Firstly, I want to wish a happy Easter to all those who celebrate it, and to 
all those who are lucky enough to get a day off work even if they don't!  We 
are steaming away here as usual, and I've been pushing hard to get some last 
updates finished before tomorrow.  The first bit of news is that I've just 
posted four new Talbert Briars to the catalog - three blasts and one smooth, 
and they can be seen here:
http://www.talbertpipes.pair.com/briarcatalogsmooths.shtml
http://www.talbertpipes.pair.com/briarcatalogblasts.shtml
They make an interesting mix, from the mild to the wild.  The Iris could 
almost qualify as a Halloween pipe, and it's a design I plan to make more 
of.  Next I'll be working on some large Talbert Signature grade mortas, and 
I also hope to get a few more Talbert Briar Alchemists made (and maybe even 
another couple of Barbs and Irises).

Emily and I have also been working around the clock to turn out as many 
Ligne Bretagnes as humanly possible, and for those who haven't checked the 
site in a while, I have posted no less than **32** new Ligne Bretagnes over 
the past couple of weeks.  They are an even mix of smooth and sandblasts, 
with a few genuinely exceptional pieces in the mix (a Canadian and our new 
shape 42 come to mind).  Also, there is a green LB handmade Collector which 
has a small story of its own.  I seem to be in a test of wills with my own 
buyers - I keep making green pipes so we will have one for our shop, never 
expecting them to sell, and people keep buying them!  So, I have resolved to 
try and make a green pipe with every catalog update, since surely there 
cannot be many green pipe buyers in the world and I have to exhaust them 
eventually.  This LB update may be of particular interest because there are 
some genuinely large-size straight billiards posted, and big LBs are a rare 
thing.  We found a few large billiard stummels out in the cave mixed in with 
other shapes.  They were undrilled and much rougher than most of the LBs so 
they required some more labor, but at least we have a few big pipes to offer 
for once.

The odds are decent that a large number of these new Ligne Bretagnes will be 
shipping over to Pipe & Pint in the semi-near future.  If anyone on this 
side of the ocean sees something they like, I'd suggest "thinking fast" as 
they will be heading across the Atlantic.  For folks in the US, I can offer 
the suggestion to telephone Larry at Pipe & Pint (336-218-8610) with any 
pipes you'd like to see in his shop, so he can better tell me what to ship. 
If you see something that you really absolutely have to have, however, my 
best advice is to buy it now and we'll ship direct, because it will probably 
be a week before we start boxing pipes and stuff gets sold.  This is it for 
Ligne Bretagne production for the moment, though we'll probably start making 
more in May in time for the summer season, and there may be the odd one here 
and there in between.

Finally, in other news, I will soon be selling off another pipe from my 
personal collection.  I had never planned to sell this one, but alas, times 
change and we need a bit of cash.  The pipe in question can be seen at this 
link:
http://www.talbertpipes.pair.com/best-minaria.shtml
I will probably set up a private auction like I did with the morta I 
recently sold, though at the moment I'm talking to a collector who is 
interested in possibly buying it outright.  If it goes to auction, look for 
another notice with links to all related info and more pics, etc.  If 
possible, I'll try and time this with the next Talbert Briar update, but I 
wanted to go ahead and announce the news so potential buyers could have a 
little forewarning.  To whomever it may concern, this is the first pipe that 
I made when I quit my old job and went full-time as a pipemaker.

As always, thanks for your time!
Happy smoking,
Trever Talbert
http://www.talbertpipes.com