Paul Tatum Pipes

Paul Tatum began collecting pipes in 1984 after being inspired, at the age of 18, by characters written about in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He has always had a great interest in unique shapes, finishes and carving techniques; and his collection consists of a great variety of out of the ordinary pipes, yet his signature shape is the straight billiard. While collecting he took note of the aspects of pipes he liked and disliked and thought it would be fun to create pipes to his own specifications, incorporating all of the things he liked, from the mechanical properties to aesthetics.

He carved his first pipe in 1992, a simple kit pipe purchased from a tobacco shop in Wilmington NC. He opened an internet tamper business in 1999 manufacturing and selling hand made pipe tampers. He used acrylic, wood, amber, silver and brass as his materials. As the tamper business grew he began acquiring the tools, materials and skills necessary to produce quality pipes.

He sold his first pipe professionally in 2002 and debuted his work at the Chicago Pipe Show. His work includes unique wood finishing techniques and non-traditional stem colors. From 2002 to 2006 he sold pipes professionally as his sole means of income while studying mechanical engineering at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro NC. He maintains a prodigious collection of GBD straight bulldogs which he smokes exclusively in his shop while carving pipes.

Paul now lives in Huntsville Alabama with his wife and two daughters and is an aerospace engineer at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center where he works as a designer of Space structures and mechanisms.