Ron Smith's journey into pipe making began after retirement when he enrolled in art classes at a local community college. While participating in a sculpture class and at the instructor's invitation to create "something", Ron, a longtime pipe smoker, purchased some briar and stems off ebay and with a hand drill, dremel sandpaper time on his hands "crafted" a few pieces. Fortunately, the class was only audited and although the pipes were displayed in the student magazine, the pipes never saw the light of day, nor were they ever smoked, but by their maker.
However, the interest persisted and a year later Ron received instruction from American maker Tim West. This turned out to be the first of his visits to the shops of many outstanding makers including Scott Klein, David Huber, Manfred Hortig, Steffen Mueller, Jessie Jones and Uwe Maier, and participation in two workshops at the Chicago Pipe Making Seminar.
Ron's works are inspired by the freehand stylings of the Danish masters and the sculptural art of his contemporaries. They may also rely on the designs of classic shapes, but the emphasis is on adding modern elements such as variation of color, mixed textures and a pronounced effort to bring out the grain of the ebauchon briar he uses for his smooth pieces. To each pipe he put forth his best efforts to the mechanics he has learned to insure great smoking characteristics as well as making pieces which are visually pleasing and comfortable to the touch and in their use.
Ron has displayed his works at the shows in Chicago, Raleigh, Columbus (OH), St Louis, Columbia (TN), Richmond (VA) and Speyer, Germany. He has done collaboration pieces with makers such as Yiannos Kokkinos, Steffen Mueller, Brian Orton and Dustin Franc and was a writer for Pipes and Tobacco Magazine. His works are available on this site and Smoky's in Knoxville and the Gatinburlier in Gatlinburg. His workshop is at his home in Dandridge, Tennessee.
Website: https://www.ranzpipes.com