We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JD Allred a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi JD, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned by trial and error and by absorbing as much information as I could from online sources such as YouTube and pipe making forums. I’m self taught so having the direct mentorship of an experienced pipe maker would have greatly sped up my learning process. I think patience is an essential skill for me in pipe making. From drawing out every design to making sure everything is crafted with absolute precision. Patience helped me pick up yet another block of wood and start over until I’ve perfected a certain technique. My main obstacles were tooling and time. I had a very limited budget but I broke down and got a small wood lathe, this was the first machine and tool of many that would need to come. I was also working my day job back then so and I could only pursue this new passion on evenings and weekends.

JD, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a smoker I found myself getting frustrated with standard glass pipes that broke easily and were hard to clean. I’ve always been artistic and enjoyed creating things with my hands so I decided I would try to make a wood pipe just for fun. Of course the first ones were a mess, they didn’t smoke well and would clog easily. I started studying the tobacco pipe making masters and while my designs were looking better they were still very cloggy and would require cleaning often. Thinking back on standard glass pipes, I realized they worked well because they were hallow and allowed space for the resin to collect and not impede the smoke. So from here I started designing pipes with an interior chamber that would collect the resin. In traditional pipe making this is called a calabash chamber. Many tobacco pipe smokers prefer pipes with a calabash chamber because the extra space helps cool and dry the smoke. The same is true for my designs except it also serves to collect the resin and make cleaning easy. I design my pipes to embrace the beauty of traditional wood pipes but I make them for today’s contemporary smoker. It’s my hope to provide another option for those who enjoy smoking and would like a high-quality artisan pipe that will last a lifetime.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’m a staunch introvert, I commit myself to my work because it’s how I express who I am. I want people to see me through my work. And when they do, that is my greatest reward.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My first shop was in our little detached bike shed — 70 sq. feet. It had power but no heat or a/c. Still, I was in there every free moment I had, sometimes falling asleep in there with my head on my workbench. I’ve since retired from my day job and moved my shop to our basement where I now spend most of my time, and still occasionally fall asleep with my head on the workbench

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jdallredpipes.com
• Instagram: @jdallredpipes
• Facebook: JD Allred Pipes
• Youtube: JD Allred pipes