Not very much. And making pipes is glassblowing, if way down the respectability list (and subject to investigation on the least excuse in some states which have driven ordinary scientific glassblowers out of their state with the harassment.) There several levels of glassblowing income opportunities. Scientific glassblowers are torchworking people who normally work at university and commercial laboratories, get regular salaries, and have their own association. http://www.asgs-glass.org/ Ask them, but I would expect salaries to be in $40-70,000 range. There are almost no opportunities for employment as commercial free hand furnace glass workers as little is made in factories these days and most workers there are related to other employees. Which gets us into studio glass. Lampworkers (using the torch) usually work in small spaces without assistance and how much they make depends on skill, marketing, and attractiveness of their work. The best make sculptural quality pieces that sell through galleries. For some of the best work and discussion of techniques find Contemporary Lampworking by Bandhu Scott Dunham as here http://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Lampw�� and/or visit www.hotglass.com Most furnace glass workers are in studios which either function as partnerships or are run by the owner with paid assistants or apprentices who are learning. These studios are often part time with the owner holding another job to make ends meet. The very best make lots of money with gallery quality pieces. There is a middle ground of people making production glass sold in shops and decorator pieces sold through wholesale outlets where they compete with imported stuff. Setting up and running a furnace glass studio is considerably more costly than a torch working studio. Another category from which many pipe makers come is neon tubing work, which is a form of torch work.
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