Please School Me On Nachwalter Pipe Grades

Nice pipe! Looks somewhat like a Joh's freehand tomahawk shape I received as a Christmas gift.

I like the Vermont origins of your pipe. I hope someone as more information. The stem is especially

attractive.

I wish I could help more, but I'm frankly stumped myself. I own six of the Stowe-era Briar Workshop pipes and I can't see much rhyme or reason to the numbers. It seems as if the better pipes have lower numbers.
1. I have a pipe marked "1" that has lovely, nice straight grain, but also a possible fill (I'm not sure); another one is marked "01" and has really nice flame grain and birdseye (no fills).
2. In contrast, I have a "5" that is stained dark, has so-so grain and a couple of obvious fills and a "4" that has no fills, but so-so grain.
3. Then there's one that has amazing, angel-hair straight grain, but is marked "3"
4. Finally, I have one pipe with nice grain, no fills and a very light stain (like Dunhill Root), but NO number whatsoever.
Whenever I get around to putting in an order of tobacco from Carole Burns, I'll have to just ask her. She was Nachwalter's wife and worked with the Briar Workshop and later with Nachwalter when he went out on his own with Pipeworks and Wilke.

I should add, the numbers don't seem to correspond to either shape or size, either. Nice looking sitter, by the way. Can't tell from here, but the grain looks clean and should clean up nicely.

You could try going straight to the source and just email Elliott.

You could try going straight to the source and just email Elliott.

Click to expand...

:idea: Good point, lol.

Congrats on the pipe. Hope it is a great smoker for you. Being new to pipe smoking it was Pitchfork's pictures and discussions and pictures in previous forums that got me interested in Nachwalter. I really like his shapes and have two and counting.

Cap:
Let's talk.
Fnord