Author: Mark Irwin

  psa larry blackett's p-lip pewter tampers have arrived and will mail out early this week      BANNER: Tony Whelan did a little bit of everything as factory manager and later in his semi-retired role, stepping in to teach and work wherever he was needed. TONY WHELAN, JR. January 4, 1951 - July 19, 2025 Tony, June 2019, Sallynoggin, at the reception recognizing current & retired staff at the launch of The Peterson Pipe: the Story of Kapp & Peterson.  I first met Tony on our research trip to Dublin in 2013 for the Peterson book. He was intensely focused, a great listener, and eager to share his passion--making Peterson pipes. In the candid photo below, he was giving Gigi and I the beginning-to-end tour of how a Peterson pipe is made.  At that time--just 12 years ago, amazingly--no one in the US really knew the myriad steps that go into the making of the functional art that his craftsmen and women put into each pipe.  He wanted to make sure we knew every step, from taking the briar root he's cradling to the bowl he's holding on through to finishing and shipping. But it didn't end when we left the factory and came back to the States.  From 2013 until just a few weeks before we finished up in 2019, Tony answered--on average--three or four questions a week from me, patiently guiding me through the minutiae of shapes, lines, and finishes in production I wanted to share with everyone else. If you have a copy of The Peterson Pipe, you can flip back to Ch. 12 on production and follow his guided tour of the entire process, which we recorded together and then transcribed. This morning I thought you might not only enjoy but find highly informative the memoir he recorded for me of his long tenure at Kapps (also found in the Peterson book).  He was justifiably proud that alone of all Kapps employees, he was the only one who worked at the St. Stephens Green, Sallynoggin, and Deansgrange factories, spanning seven decades from the mid-1960s through the 2020s. As you'll read in a minute, he possessed a unique, deep and comprehensive knowledge not only of every aspect of production but of the history and culture of Kapp & Peterson.  His focus first, last, and foremost, was always to make sure Peterson craftsmen are making the best pipe possible.  "The key to it," as he says below, "is to make sure you don’t walk out the door [when you retire] with all those skills. You’ve got to leave them with somebody when you’re gone."  You can rest assured he left those skills with everyone he trained, supervised, and mentored. He also infused his spirit of excellence into the heart and soul of his son Glen, who like his dad began at Kapps at an early age and is now its Managing Director. On behalf of Peterson aficionados, collectors and companioners all over the globe, Glen, we'd like…