Old Nellie Pipes are hand crafted by Joe Nelson, in the USA, using only high quality plateaux briar. The briar is bored on a drill press for accuracy. Once bored, the briar undergoes a curing process that takes about 1 week to complete and is then married to an ebonite stem via a delrin® tennon. I use a lathe for various machining operations on the interior of the stem, and the exterior is hand cut. The inside of the stem is opened up and polished to allow full air flow. Then the two are joined and the careful, protracted task of hand shaping begins. When all the refining is complete the entire pipe is sanded starting with 80 grit sandpaper and systematically brought through the grits down to 1000 grit sandpaper. Depending on the pipe, staining may begin and continue throughout the sanding process. Now the pipe gets polished, it begins with a fairly course menzerna buffing compound and ends with a proprietary blend of natural waxes which I have developed over time. This thin layer of natural finish is all that comes between your hand and the briar.

It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy smoking one of my Old Nellie Pipes. If you do, please tell a friend and if you do not, please tell me so I can correct whatever displeases you. Thank you very much, Joe

Delrin® is a registered trademark of I.E. DuPont.