Welcome to another episode of "All Pipes Considered." In this edition, Truett Smith and myself will be diving into GH.ZHANG, a unique pipe maker with shapes designed by artisans from around the world, resulting in a collaborative relationship between factory and artisan.

[Shane Ireland]: Hey everybody, I'm Shane Ireland.

[Truett Smith]: And I'm Truett Smith. This is the series where we focus on a specific brand or maker, and today, we are covering GH.ZHANG.

[SI]: GH.ZHANG is a really interesting project producing amazing work. Let's talk a little bit about, first of all, how this started and the talented people behind it.

Collaboration between Factory and Artisan

[TS]: Sure. GH.ZHANG is more or less the name and initials of the founder of the company, Guo Hui Zhang, who was originally a pipe-material supplier for a lot of the artisans in China selling briar, bamboo, vulcanite, all of that stuff. He dabbled with his own artisan pipes and realized that it wasn't his calling or his skillset. He was way more of an organizer and an engineer, so he partnered with Ping Zhan, the well-known, renowned artisan in China, whose work is also featured on Smokingpipes, and they collaborated on a project that combines CNC-shaped pipes with handmade stems and hand-finished stummels. While that's been done before, they put a creative spin on it, similar to what Stanwell did back in the fifties and sixties.

[SI]: So, basically every single one of the models in this series has been designed by an artisan pipe maker from somewhere in the world. The roster of names who have contributed to this is a pretty impressive list. Stanwell did commission back in the day shapes and models from well-known Danish pipe makers. However, at various points in the company's history, it wasn't always advertised who made which model. I think a lot of people know it because either the pipe makers have said it or because it's obvious who made something. Or even in some cases they have given credit to the artisans, like for Pipes of the Year and stuff like that.

When it comes to GH.ZHANG pipes, every single one of these is stamped with both GH.ZHANG and the artisan's name who designed it. They're also individually serialized, and in a lot of cases, many of these artisans have designed more than one shape for the series.

[TS]: This is a true collaboration. For example, this pipe was designed by Jeff Gracik of J. Alan, and for every one that GH.ZHANG makes, Jeff gets a royalty for that design. So it's truly and completely a collaboration between the factory and the artisans. The artisans will design the shape, send GH.ZHANG the design, and they will then 3D model it on a computer and make it completely to spec on CNC machines. Then the stems are all hand cut, and the pipes are all hand finished. And every one of GH.ZHANG's 50 craftsmen were all personally trained by Ping Zhan. So they've all had serious, hands-on artisan training for making these pipes.

Stunning Craftsmanship, Handmade with Care

[SI]: I think what was most compelling for us is, first of all, just the degree and the quality of the craftsmanship. These pipes are flawless in terms of shaping and finishing. When you look at the tenons and the funneling, all of the lines are crisp on the stem. We also noticed that not only are the artisans replicating the design to a very high degree of perfection, they're also styling everything from the button to the slotting, specced the same way that the artisans do in their own pipes. It's really remarkable. And, like I said, we've seen it before. I mean, making complex Freehand artisan designs this way is not brand new. I think the execution here, though, is incredible, and combined with the hand-cut stems, you have something that I don't think we've ever seen before.

[TS]: Yeah. Nothing has been done in this same way. I'll share a little anecdote from when I was first introduced to the project. It was during the Las Vegas show. I don't remember what year. A couple of years ago, Jeff Gracik came up to me and he didn't say anything, he just handed me a pipe and said, what do you think of this? I looked over it, I got the stem out and I was like, "This is really nice. It looks like a handmade pipe. Who's the artisan?" And he just said, "That's machine made. That's factory made." I was super impressed. It's a cool neo sort of idea in terms of bringing back the Stanwell format combining the modern technology we have with CNC machines and everything that we've got going on there.

[SI]: These aren't classic shapes with flush mounts and tapered stems. These are seriously complex designs here, with stunning accent work.

[TS]: Not everyone gets the opportunity to spend time in a factory and we talk about how something was CND'd or copy fraziers or whatever. And I think that can be hard to grasp if you don't understand the process. It's hard to visualize, after a pipe comes off of a CNC machine, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. A pipe doesn't leave the CNC machine and then immediately get sandblasted and stained and then we're done.

[SI]: The shape isn't even finished or refined.

[TS]: Exactly. So the CNC machine certainly cuts down the time and the process, but there are still a lot of hands and very intentional one-on-one work going into making these pipes. But the benefit of the CNC shaping is that it does mean you can offer these at a more attractive price.

[SI]: The handmade versus machine-made has and always will be a little bit of a misunderstanding. I can only think of maybe five pipe makers who have ever, in the truest sense, done everything with hand tools, like drilling with a handheld drill.

[TS]: Yeah. I mean, what do hand tools even mean?

[SI]: Exactly. Lathe work is almost always a thing for handmade artisan pipes. Almost all of the pipes made by the major producers in decades past, if not over a century, have had some sort of machine utilized to begin the shape. You don't have quality like this, basically anywhere else. And it's not possible without a lot of hand work.

Let's talk a little bit, not just about the artisans, but about the complexity of some of what they're able to execute. So the first one you picked up, which was the newest of the J. Alan designs, has insane paneling. Before you're even talking about staining, to finish a shape like this without messing up any of the symmetry and any of the line work here requires a serious amount of skill. Then you're talking about adding and removing finishes and polishing and all that other stuff. And again, keeping the lines clean is not easy.

[TS]: Yeah. So to run over the artisans here, we've got Sergey Ailarov, Jeff Gracik of J. Alan pipes, Cornelius Mänz, Alex Florov, Boris Starkov, David Huber, Dirk Heinemann, Abe Herbaugh, and Ping Zhan, and this is not an exhaustive selection either. Many of these artisans have more than two or three shapes. There's also multiple finishes across all of the designs. And even accent work can vary from horn, silver, et cetera.

Unique Stamping

[TS]: Every piece is stamped with GH.ZHANG, but we also have the artisan's name on the pipe who designed it. We have the shape number. For example, I've got a number two shape that Jeff designed here. It's serialized out of the year of production. This pipe is number 42 fashioned in 2023. It's also a limited production. I don't know if they have it completely capped at a certain number, but rarely are these designs being made in quantities greater than around a hundred per year. So they do keep production lower. It's not what you'd call completely limited, but it's definitely selective in the quantities.

And also, a cool thing about these pipes is that the origin of the briar is actually stamped. There's Italy, Greece, Spain, and a few other countries of origin. That's a unique thing that I've never personally seen before in pipes where they are literally telling you where the briar is from of that specific pipe.

[SI]: Yeah, it's such a cool philosophy and executing something like this to this degree of quality and complexity requires so much care. I mean, the stamping alone, keeping track of where the briar's from, all of that stuff; a project like this has to be a labor of love. This is something that's done by enthusiasts and craftspeople who appreciate the world of pipe making and pipe design. There's no other reason you would try to do something this ambitious and be able to execute it so well.

[TS]: Yeah, check 'em out, see if you can find a new favorite. And yeah, tell us what you think in the comments.

[SI]: Thanks everybody. See you next time.