Mitch Kalter: The Bench Side of S&M Pipes

Mitch Kalter is a pipe maker working in the United States who presents his pipes under the name S&M Pipes. Pipe making is not his first profession; by his own account he is a retired surgeon, and he came to the bench as an extension of his curiosity about how mechanisms are put together. S&M Pipes is a joint venture between Kalter and his friend Steve, whom he has known since their college years. The division of labor is clear: pipes made from scratch are Kalter's domain, while repairs of secondhand estate pipes are Steve's. The founding year of the partnership and its official business registration are not stated in accessible sources.

The Road to the Bench

Briar is not the first fine craft Kalter tried his hand at. For years he tied artificial flies used in fly fishing, and he turned to pipe making while looking for a new pursuit demanding the same degree of patience. Such transitions are not unusual in the artisan pipe world; a hand accustomed to working with small parts can relatively quickly become capable of working with wood. Kalter says his own first encounter with pipe smoke likewise came through Steve, roughly half a century ago.

Working Method

Kalter's production rests on planning that is finished on paper before he ever enters the workshop. Some pipes first appear as an idea, for which a matching briar block is then sought; more commonly, he considers what a block picked at random from the box could become. Once a decision is made, the pipe is drawn full-scale in pencil. This drawing covers not only the outer outline but also the tobacco chamber, the air channel, the socket where the stem will sit (the mortise), and any spacers or ferrules to be added to the shank.

At the bench stage, measurements are opened first, and shape follows. The chamber, air channel, and mortise are drilled on the lathe before the bowl is roughly shaped; the tenon and bit-end pieces belonging to the stem are prepared on a metal lathe. In this way, stem work and bowl work proceed from the outset as two separate tracks. Once roughed out, the pieces are joined with epoxy within their own groups, and only after that are the two halves brought together. Shaping proceeds in stages: grinding wheel, French wheel, rotary mill, and file come into play in sequence.

Once the bowl and stem approach the intended line, the stem is removed again. After its general contour is set on the lathe, it takes its final shape by hand file and sandpaper. Final sanding, polishing, and bending of the stem, however, are done with the pipe assembled; the aim is not to throw off the alignment of the two pieces relative to each other. The surface is brought to a fineness equivalent to 1200-grit sandpaper, and the finish is given with carnauba wax. Kalter's metal-lathe-heavy system is a typical example of the measurement-driven working approach often seen in one-person workshops.