Rex Key is continuing the tradition of clay tobacco pipe-making, one of only two people in the country carrying out this ancient craft. He lives in Broseley in Shropshire, a village which has been producing clay pipes for nearly 400 years. Now aged 74, Rex is hoping to retire but still fulfils orders for pipes from film and theatre companies, craft centres and Civil War re-enactors. “I supply hundreds of pipes to Masonic and Buffalo lodges and also for “court leet” ceremonies where the lords of the manor give staff and tenants a clay pipe as he carr Stock Photo