Sidebar

Faux Grain, How Common?

Log in

Forgot your password?

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Site Sponsors

Al Pascia
Blue Room Briars
Cigar World
Danish Pipe Shop
LePipe.it
Missouri Meerschaum
Pipes2Smoke.com
PipeStud.com
Seattle Pipe Club Tobaccos
SmokingPipes.com
Tabaccheria Corti
TinBids.com

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
Most pipe smokers and owners have noticed, on their own pipes or shopping for pipes, that

some briar finish includes brush strokes with stain meant to resemble grain. It's not very

convincing, but it adds a little personality to pipes that are made of briar but don't show much

grain. How do you feel about this? Is it shabby bluff or just an artistic touch to step up the

appearance of more ordinary, and hopefully lower-priced pipes?
In fairness, some lower priced pipes, and others, have a good stain or natural finish and no faux

grain. Some faux grain is pretty gentle and actually steps up the looks of the pipe. Other faux

grain strikes me as a bit of a hoax, to be recognized and regretted after the purchase. If the pipe

smokes well, the customer is forgiving, if not, not.
How do you feel about stain-brush grain?

 
anglesey

anglesey

Can't Leave
Jan 15, 2014
383
2
I've never encountered such a thing before, I never thought the pipe market was so large that people would really bother...
It would put me off. I don't smoke estate pipes, and all my briars I've had from new, and most are not expensive, but I would never smoke anything with such a tacky ploy to make the pipe appear better. Shabby bluff in my opinion.
It's like them 70's formica tables that looked vaguely the part from a passing glance, but didn't pass the mustard when you put the silverware on it.

 
bigvan

bigvan

Lifer
Mar 22, 2011
2,192
12
I heard about this about 10 years ago; supposedly one of the "Danish Masters" was accused of using a Sharpie marker to draw (or "enhance") grain onto a bowl before staining. I also have a 2005 Peterson Pipe of the Year with grain that has been "smudged". I've tried a few times to photograph it but it's not easy to see in a picture.
What do I think? I think it's dishonest, and frankly it was what started to turn me off to Peterson as a brand.

 
warren

warren

Lifer
Sep 13, 2013
11,733
16,332
Foothills of the Chugach Range, AK
I've never heard of such a scam. I'm heavy into woodworking and am very particular when I examine a prospective purchase and have never seen with artificial grain on a pipe. I've seen pipes where the grain is almost buried in stain and a close inspection usually turned up large flaws and fills. I've seen fills which were stained or colored to obscure them, but that's business as usual with most pipe manufacturers. Cheaper pipes with badly executed fills or poorly camouflaged blemishes are usually pretty cheap so that should be a clue.
Most makers of pipes state somewhere in paper work, catalogs, or on web sites that their product(s) may contain fills or have cosmetic blemishes. Nothing new there.

 
ejames

ejames

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
3,916
22
The only example of this I have seen were on WW2 era non briar pipes,most of which I believe were made of Mt. Laurel. Mt. Laurel grain is rather bland. I've seen and have examples of this on Linkman and WDC pipes.

 
puffy

puffy

Lifer
Dec 24, 2010
2,511
98
North Carolina
I think I've noticed it a good bit in some less expensive pipes.Unless it's used to try to cover fills I don't have a problem with it.There's difference of opinion as to how important grain is to smoking quality anyway.I like the look of grain though.Then I have a Dunhill that really doesn't show a lot of grain and smokes absolutely great.

 
T

thedeep

Lurker
Feb 24, 2014
7
0
I saw a Mario Grandi with painted on grain. Not cool. I know of a fellow who had one he really liked...until the day he used alcohol to clean it--all of the grain washed off. I think it's a cheap trick.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
I think there's a little more of this faux grain around than people care to notice, but I haven't researched it.

In inexpensive pipes, I think it can pass as decoration. In higher priced pipes, it amounts to fraud, if not

legally. Buyer beware.

 
mso489

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,459
ejames, I have two Mountain Laurel pipes carved since 2000, and it's true, they have little visible grain, or very

fine grain. It's not like briar. There were hand carved by a N.C. carver, Jerry Perry.

 
T

thehappypiper

Can't Leave
Feb 27, 2014
303
0
It seems simply wrong to me and if I suspected it had been done on any pipe I was considering, it would be back on the shelf in seconds!

That said, on Thursday I picked up a Chacom Naturelle.

"Oh, cool!" I thought, "Absolutely no stain or anything. This is exactly what I want!"

Except, it didn't really look very nice. There was zero grain! I put it back.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom