Mark Williams Pipe Tampers

Mark Williams, of Whidbey Island, Washington, has made a series of elegant tampers from jade and sterling silver. Mark had a career in law enforcement in the Bay Area before retiring to Whidbey, where he began making opal jewelry, and gained proficiency in silverwork. He's also been an enthusiastic pipe smoker for some 35 years. I am not ordinarily a great tamper enthusiast. Modern "fancy" tampers often seem over the top, and lack the grace and elegance of the pipes they are tamping. Hence I prefer utilitarian tampers, like those included in pipe knives. I often use my finger when I knife is handy. But Mark has come up with a design in semi-precious materials whose simplicity, elegance and functionality strike a resonance. Rather than distracting one from a fine pipe, they enhance the experience. Jade is a surprisingly strong material, and Mark has shaped it into a blade, some "left handed," some "right handed," which is more than capable of scraping out a pipe and even lightly trimming a cake. The foot is hand made of sterling silver by a superb silversmith in the famous "silver city" of Taxco, Mexico, and is stamped with Mark's working name: "Opal Guy." He uses jade from a variety of locations, including both British Columbia and Russia. He guarantees the blades against breakage in normal use. So at the end of the day, we have fine tampers for fine pipes.