Is This an Example of a Fill in Briar?
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I'm looking at this on my phone so the pics are small but I cant see a fill in that pipe. What I do see are bald spots where the grain swirls. Probbably had a branch coming out of the burl nearby, which tends to pull the grain.
Can you just post the picture? To put an imbedded link violates absolutely no copyrights for anyone, since the image stays at it's current location.
Just right click the image, click "copy image location" and put that in the IMG tab space. It sure makes all of this clicking on link nonsense stop.
Just right click the image, click "copy image location" and put that in the IMG tab space. It sure makes all of this clicking on link nonsense stop.
I don't see any fills. They can be pink or tan in color, usually anywhere from pinpoint to sharpie point in size. I think the smudgy area you are talking about is just an area of 'mixed'(read: poor) grain.
Looks like graining to me, and probably looks great in hand, better than the picture. I don't think many leave pipe 'natural' that require visible fills. To call that grain inferior is just a tad judgmental. Granted, it's not got matching bird's eye on top and bottom or side to side, the flame portions aren't all around the pipe and don't continue to the top, (maybe that's a good thing?), but it's a beautiful hunk of briar.
Fills are usually quite obvious in estate pipes. Not as easy to spot in a new pipe. The heat from smoking and the natural darkening of briar end up mis-matching the colors. Samcoffeeman's pick shows this nicely. The fact that we can't see any fills in that estate pipe is a good sign...or the fills are on the other side!
Agreed with the above, a lack of good grain is not a fill. Fills are small areas....like a little cyst, where weaker/poor briar has been picked out a filled with a putty. Usually it doesn't take the same color as the stain.
samcoffeeman has a good example, though they are usually less obvious than that. In most of my pipes its rather subtle, but darker, some of them its actually a bit pink. Think of it more as a small eye than a big smudge.
samcoffeeman has a good example, though they are usually less obvious than that. In most of my pipes its rather subtle, but darker, some of them its actually a bit pink. Think of it more as a small eye than a big smudge.
To get the image URL open the photo in a new window and copy that. When pasting the URL here using the IMG button, you may need to first backspace delete the pregiven http stuff since when you copied the URL from the page with the photo you also got the http part of the address. This works for my iPhone and also my Android tablet.
Fills are puttied in. Usually they are visible but pretty small. If the pipe is otherwise sound, and the price is adjusted accordingly, I don't think they are a deal breaker and sometimes add a little personality. It surprises me how few fills I find even in modest price factory pipes. If a fill is done right, usually it will last as long as the briar and won't change much with time.
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