ShureWood Pipes

ShureWood Pipes is the brand under which Colin Rigsby, working in Arlington, Texas, sells his pipes. It is a one-man bench: every stage, from selecting the block to the final polish of the mouthpiece, comes from the same hands. Records state Rigsby gradually began using his own name as a signature as well, and ShureWood has settled in as the label associated with the maker's early work.

The Maker's Path

Born, according to records, in 1971, Rigsby grew up in a household immersed in art; his father's advertising work meant his childhood was spent among photographers and designers. After his university years he spent time in music as a bassist and songwriter, then worked in commercial printing and packaging. His interest in pipes was rekindled in his early thirties, that is, in the early 2000s; setting up his bench followed. Alongside production, he is also engaged in collecting classic pipes.

Rigsby's name is known in the Dallas-Fort Worth pipe community not only for his production but also for his organizing. In 2006 he led the founding of a pipe club in Lewisville; meeting at a local tobacco shop, this group took the name North Texas Briar Club. The club moved to Denton in 2017, and in 2019 merged under the same roof with the Lone Star Pipe Club, founded by Chris Dumoulin in Fort Worth in 2014.

Formal Approach and Material

Pipes bearing the ShureWood label lean mostly toward classic forms; billiards and apples, established shapes, form the backbone of the bench. Rigsby occasionally turns to freehand designs as well; in these works the influence of European, Eastern European, and Asian masters is visible. One of the names he cites most often is the Brazilian master Paulo Becker. Retailer promotions speak of a line in which his classic work is associated with the Italian Pesaro school.

On the material side, the bench works with selected briar blocks; shaping and mouthpiece work are carried out by hand. Rigsby's own collection includes both old Dunhill pipes and artisan and factory work from various parts of the world; this accumulated knowledge is thought to inform his formal approach.

Place in the Community

ShureWood is not a factory brand with a century of history but a typical example of the American artisan pipe wave that matured in the 2000s: a bench that appears regularly at pipe shows, explains its work directly to enthusiasts, and reinterprets classic shapes on its own terms. Rigsby's work is regularly seen today in the secondary circulation of American artisan pipes.

The maker himself says that the most valuable part of this pursuit is not the pipes he has made but the people he has met along the way. His name circulates in the community not only through his club organizing but also through interviews he has given to pipe publications; indeed, he is among the early American masters to have appeared as a guest on Pipes Magazine's radio program. In this respect, ShureWood is counted among the examples representing both the production and community sides of the 2000s American artisan generation.