While I was in Vietnam in 1968-69, I had the time to reconsider what I wanted to do with my life. I was raised to be a musician. I even spent a year in music college where I met Ginny, a beautiful and gifted pianist who agreed to marry me moments before I left for Vietnam.

As a kid, however, whenever I wanted to relax and have fun, I didn’t play an instrument. I went out to the garage and made things or took things apart. I also enjoyed reading history, especially about explorers who “went where no one had gone before”. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted to do that too and as time went on it turned out that carving pipes was one way to do it.

When I got out of the army I took a job in a music store and fell under the spell of the beautiful woods that are used to build guitars. I used my GI bill to learn cabinet making.  After that we lived in Iowa for a few years. Iowa is prime Black Walnut country and it was then I began to learn that tree rustling (illegal logging) is a huge problem, not just in Iowa but worldwide. It took the joy out of working with fine hardwoods. I began to feel guilty that such magnificent beings had to die to satisfy my need to carve.

Then one Christmas Ginny gave me a carve-it-yourself meerschaum pipe kit and my life changed. I had found the perfect carving material in this soft white stone from Tanzania. Sometime in the mid 80s the raw material disappeared from the tobacco store shelves but not before I had created a collection of pipes that were judged as “remarkable” and “extraordinary”. This website is mostly about those pipes (and a few other things I’ve done before and after my pipes).

 

Name: Rick Taft

Age: 62

Birthday: August 8

College: MacPhail College of Music

Major: Tuba

Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Book: LOTR

Favorite Movie: LOTR

Favorite Food: Ginny’s pink potato salad

Favorite Quote: Sanity is madness put to good use.