Pipe Dreams and Manly Men!--Father's Day Gift Ideas from the Men of Etsy!

As we approach Father's Day, I have been feeling more of a need to get in touch with my masculine side and reconnect with my muy macho muchachos (aka, my buddies).   Maybe it's because it seems harder nowadays to have male bonding time.  What with me being a full time father of three (cats: Primo, Bella and Camilla) and trying to raise them correctly (teaching them valuable lessons, like, they shouldn't jump on the dining room table...anymore--okay, I let it go on longer than it should have), finding the time to be a "man's man" often gets tossed to the side of the road, like a discarded and under-appreciated Tom Selleck Moustache (which, in my opinion, is a work of genius not to be attempted by anyone other than Mr. Selleck himself).

Well, in the words of "Lost" Scotsman and manly man himself, Desmond Hume...  

"No more, Brutha'!"

In fact, recently, I've been thinking about the age-old question, what makes a man a man?  Is it, as the BIG Lebowski once posed to The Dude, "...being prepared to do the right thing, whatever the cost?"...or is it just the Dude's well thought out answer to that question of questions?

Well, I never figured that one out, but I do know this, there are probably few things as definitely masculine as a pipe!

So, here are some pipe inspired gift ideas for Father's Day from none other than a few of the men of Etsy, or MoE's.

I recently joined the Etsy Group, Men of Etsy (spearheaded by another MoE, Giani, who makes great jewelry, his Etsy shop is here. )  These are the brave and fearless few of the male species on Etsy, who are dedicated to making things out of wood, glass, stone (and other manly materials) using their bare hands, hand tools (or sometimes nothing but their teeth), to create things like wood furniture, stone jewelry, clay pottery, art, housewares, things with electrical switches, and other doo-dads and thingamajigs that they've created in their man caves (aka, garage or shed, or an unused portion of their girlfriend's closet--and I say, "doo-dads" and "thingamajigs" because I'm too busy making things to actually name them--like a real man).

Looking through the many Men of Etsy shops , I noticed a pattern: Pipes!
(Okay, well, maybe I was looking for that pattern because I wanted to do a pipe-related post for Father's Day and it appeared to me after searching for it but, whatever.)  Nothing says "Man" more than a pipe!  And what better way to say Happy Father's Day to your favorite man than by giving him one of these pipe-inspired creations and saying to him, "Here, Dad.  Put this in your pipe, and smoke it."

Here are a few of the MoE shops that highlight Pipes (and pipe related doo-dads, what-nots and what have yous):