Thanks for the welcoming! Todd correctly described me as a product of the 70's. I'm 57 years old. I'm a jeweler and artisan goldsmith since 1978. I bought my first pipe when I was 15 years old. Collected pipes sporadically over the years, but got really serious about it around 2005, after spending years as a premium cigar smoker. Being a fan of everything Peterson, I began to make my own sterling silver adornments to pipes that I owned that seemed to be incomplete to my eye. Always wanted a Peterson 106 Billiard with a silver cap with the hinged windscreen, but didn't want to pay the price. So I bought a nicely grained 106, and hand made my version, closely styled after the Peterson factory silver. The result was pretty satisfying. I began to think that I might be able to offer my skills as a Silversmith to others in the pipe world, as a way of contributing to this wonderful hobby. I even made my own pipe, entering a pipe carving contest for GREENTREE Tobacco, a South Jersey tobacconist. I made your basic 70's style freehand with plateau from the supplied pre-drilled block. Once the drummer was complete, as a jeweler I couldn't resist marking it with a 14kt white gold script initial S, inlaid in the bottom of the shank, and set a quarter carat round diamond in a white gold bezel in the preformed faux Amber acrylic bent stem. It tied for first place in the contest. But I am clearly not a pipe maker (yet). My medium is metal. So now I've been showing my work to people, especially artisan pipe makers like Jesse Jones, Trevor Talbert, Michael Lindner and others. Thanks to the incredible generosity of my friends Scott Townsend and the amazing Jesse Jones over at Blue Room Briars, I collaborated with Jesse to create a simple stem band he wanted, to reinforce the delicate mortise end of the shank of a gorgeous Morta Prince shaped pipe with a blue German ebonite brindled stem. I made a special stem, fell in love with it, and bought the pipe before I shipped it back to Jesse. Mr Jones generously introduced me to Todd Harris, and since I've made my first collaboration with him, in the Sterling silver bowl cap with the rope trim on his gorgeously grained, man-sized billiard. Todd generously introduced me to the world of pipe forums after posting his creation and receiving much totally expected praise for his work. Along with that came additional praise for MY work as well. I'm grateful to Todd and Jesse for allowing me to add a little something to their artwork. But selfishly I appreciate having their beautiful work act as a showplace for my work. I'm trying to get my name and my capabilities out there to the artisan pipe making community and pipe collectors and buyers in general. I can make pretty much anything that a person could want in silver, or gold, or brass, or copper, for your pipes. It's a higher level of my hobbyist connection to the world of pipes. I hope to be able to get to know many of you who may have tolerated to read this "Novella" of an introduction. Thanks!
not gonna lie... was a little worried that you were hanging out with such a nefarious character like Todd 
