Dark Briar Rules the Rack

mso489 · Jan 12, 2014

I'm not a particularly conservative person in terms of style. I have a few loud shirts,

and it's been years since I've done a jacket and tie for work. Yet when I look at my

pipe racks, there is a distinct prevalence of dark briar. I have some light stems, even

a couple of orange ones, a raspberry stem, and several quite light gray and beige.

But the briar tends toward dark colors, from medium brown or reddish brown, gone

darker with age, to gloss black and rusticated and blast dark brown or black. The

tradition and taste seems to lean in that direction. Since there are briar pipes in every

conceivable color, I'm intrigued that there is a distinct "pull" in the direction of dark

colors. I do have one green stain briar, dark green. Are there any or many bright colored

briars on your racks?

taerin · Jan 12, 2014

I think part of the reason is they naturally darken over time, the only way to keep a pipe bright would be to coat the surface with something, instead of using stain. I had one pipe that was natural and came quite bright in color, it is pretty dark now, looks stained just from being smoked.

irish · Jan 12, 2014

I am exactly same mso489 . I don't own a single loud shirt . Never have worn a suit and tie for work , but nearly all my pipes are dark brown or reddish brown . Few naturals , few meers .

gwtwdbss · Jan 12, 2014

I do gravitate towards black or dark red but not all of my pipe are like this. I do like and own several of the natural and virgin blasted pipes as well. These do tend to darken overtime but will never become as dark as my stained pipes.

sablebrush52 · Jan 13, 2014

The only finish that I do not favor is bland. A natural finish that shows some grain contrast is good, but one that is light, low contrast, and smooth is a bore. Most of my artisan made pipes are lighter, my classical British pipes are mostly dark as that was the style. Whatever finish most favors the grain works for me.

cosmicfolklore · Jan 13, 2014

+1 Sable, with a tendency to especially favor high contrast grain. But, as I smoke them more, all of mine are getting darker, muting the contrast, as Eric says. I think the best ones are darker, for me, because I smoke them more.

mso489 · Jan 13, 2014

In clothing, men seem to have distinctly less range than women's duds. Sure there are summer clothes,

Hawaiian shirts and golf pants, that may pick up some loud colors, but men tend to select neutral or dark

colors, khaki pants, gray, black, brown, navy. Maybe that dampens down the selection of some of the brighter

colored pipes. I click through selections of pipes with bowls with fancy paint jobs and partly translucent stems,

but I just don't think I would reach for them when I'm angling for a smoke. Blacks, browns, darker blasts,

deep red brown bulldogs, etc., seem to fill the bill for me. I don't mean to be stogy, it's just what appeals to

me in the moment.

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