I recently smoked my first Morta; only 1 bowl through it so far. As bcharles noted, the bowl got hotter than briar but cooled down fast. I found that my first smoke was cool, dry and good flavored right from the start. Of course I'm looking forward to more smokes in it so I can make a better determination.
From the "Manly Pipe" discussion, mine is a Rick Black pipe with claw marks and skulls (on the band)...manly yes, but my wife likes it too. :D